dunnhumby is a global marketing and data analytics consulting firm with offices in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.  Its American division, dunnhumbyUSA, is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, with offices in Atlanta and New York City. dunnhumby helps its clients, primarily large retailers, get to know and treat their essential customers better than anyone else.

The UA MIS Capstone Team is developing a tool to help dunnhumbyUSA analyze the effectiveness of sales promotions.  Although we are developing this tool for a specific industry, we are making the tool extensible so that dunnhumby can use this tool across multiple classes of trade.

We began this project by researching different types of promotions and effective metrics for their evaluation.  We hosted our client kick-off meeting via teleconference, and used the information gleaned from that meeting to develop a comprehensive set of wireframes. We presented our initial designs to our clients on Thursday evening, and will begin refining our designs based on the feedback received.

Once the tool is completed, dunnhumby will use it to answer key questions related to promotions—Which customers responded to a promotion?  Which promotion type is most successful for a particular product? How have promotions affected a product over time?

The dPAT (dunnhumby Promotional Analysis Tool) team is very excited about working with dunnhumbyUSA on this very valuable and interesting project!

Written by Karly Tuggle

The University of Alabama MIS program allows students to work on real projects that provide real value to real companies. Students learn to leverage people, processes and technology to solve problems and meet the challenges of today’s businesses head-on. For more information, call 205-348-5525 or visit http://cba.ua.edu/mis.

The spring semester of Capstone is starting to crank up and Cap-Ex students are finding out why MIS is such a unique major at the University of Alabama. Most project teams are knee deep in the plan phase of ADM (Accenture Delivery Methods) and are heading towards the analyze stage. As the first semester Cap-Ex students try to plant their feet safely on their initial grounds into the business analysis consulting world, they find everything has an art, and gathering a company’s vision for an in house application is just that.

Being a first semester Cap-Ex student I was engrossed with eagerness to attend my opening client kick off meeting, and it proved to be a valuable learning experience in its own right. My project team and I walked into the meeting confident of our assignment’s direction, but we quickly learned our expectations were only a small piece of the puzzle, and the only way to get the puzzle pieces needed was to ask the right questions. We left realizing the whole project scope had changed in the matter of a day’s meeting and from there reasoned what questions needed to be asked to piece together our puzzle. On the way back to campus the only thought on my mind was, “Welcome to Cap-Ex kiddo.”

Since then our application requirements have become more defined and the scope has grown to be more solid. I haven’t completely learned “ The Art of Gathering Requirements”, but I have learned the only way to get them is to ask questions even when you feel your question is the dumbest question in the world. It dawned on me after client kick off, “My job is to ask questions. If I don’t ask questions when I don’t understand, how can I provide my client with the best service and application possible?” The answer to my question was I can’t. I now understand I am only valuable to my client when I understand my client’s needs. That means using an old tool in a new way.

A major stimulant to creative thinking is focused questions. There is something about a well-worded question that often penetrates to the heart of the matter and triggers new ideas and insights.-Brian Tracy

Written by: Cory Jackson

The University of Alabama MIS program allows students to work on real projects that provide real value to real companies. Students learn to leverage people, processes and technology to solve problems and meet the challenges of today’s businesses head-on. For more information, call 205-348-5525 or visit http://cba.ua.edu/mis.

This semester began with a bang! First, the Crimson Tide won its 13^th National Championship! Then, we had project kickoff! It is exciting to wonder who is going to be on your team and what you will be working on during the semester. For me, it was especially exciting because this is my last semester.

I was placed on one of the Genuine Parts teams this semester. We will be researching two help desk software packages, one of which is currently in place. The Automotive Parts group within GPC is moving to the new system. The current system has had extensive customizations, but the vendor is upgrading and will not support the older version. The cost of recoding the customizations for the new version would be expensive and labor intensive. So, GPC has decided to change help desk systems. In order to do this, our team is documenting all of the current capabilities of the help desk system. Then we will document the capabilities of the new system. This will allow us to design and document a standard process to integrate the two systems. Our goal is to produce a document that GPC can hand over to the vendor or another group to implement.

As a second semester senior, I have a different perspective than I did last semester. Last semester, I was so nervous about our project and the CapEx program. I wasn’t sure if I had learned enough to be successful and did not want to let my team down. I learned over the course of last semester that I had learned enough and what I didn’t know I was capable of learning. Plus, my team supported each other and helped each other figure out what we were having problems with. This semester, I am looking forward to being able to help out the first semester CapExers. They are a great bunch so I also expect to learn from them as well.

The University of Alabama MIS program allows students to work on real projects that provide real value to real companies. Students learn to leverage people, processes and technology to solve problems and meet the challenges of today’s businesses head-on. For more information, call 205-348-5525 or visit http://cba.ua.edu/mis.

The UA Capstone Experience provides a wide range of opportunities for both undergraduates and graduate students, ranging from project assignments to professional development. This semester, two graduate students will be fulfilling slightly different roles: Technical and Process PMO.

The PMO, or Project Management Office, of the Capstone carries out several program-wide functions. A high-level outline of this semester’s PMO duties is below:

• To serve as a resource for the Project Managers and their team members for questions or concerns regarding processes, methodologies, or architecture
• To engage in continuous improvement activities that help to drive out program-wide inefficiencies
• To serve as a liaison between project teams and the faculty to ensure teams have adequate resources and are on track against their respective goals

So far, the PMO office has been challenged to identify project success metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), to take charge of testing of the program-wide Personal Educational Evaluation Performance System (PEEPS), to serve as a sounding board for Project Managers to discuss process/technical issues with their projects, and several other duties.

While the role of the PMO is challenging, we have enjoyed the opportunities to recognize possible improvements to the Capstone Experience. Several of the continuous improvement tasks we are currently undertaking include identifying the usefulness of potential software to create wireframes for development projects, as well as evaluating the ways to improve the current means for teams to document their time and work each week.

The University of Alabama MIS program allows students to work on real projects that provide real value to real companies. Students learn to leverage people, processes and technology to solve problems and meet the challenges of today’s businesses head-on. For more information, call 205-348-5525 or visit http://cba.ua.edu/mis.

MIS 295 today covered some basics again and D.Hale hinted on the first project and gave us an assignment of a report for our personal-career path. I have to say I am looking forward to setting up my plan because I operate best when I am goal oriented, and although it is technically an assignment, I will be using this report as a motivational tool. This brings me to talk about another motivational tool, AIMS meetings.

It is not very often a job seeker with minimal skills or experience gets a chance to have a consistent exposure to Human Resource representatives. Last week’s events were great and included a Welcome Back Party and an AIMS meeting that was fun as much as it was informative. An HR representative (Miranda Azaam) was available to show AIMS how valuable Project Managers and Business Analysts are to Aflac. Besides Aflac ducks being passed around, we got to listen about internship programs, positions pertaining to the MIS Career, and locations and facilities available with the company. This presentation was done in great style as it was a perfect start to the semester’s AIMS line-up.

Tomorrow’s AIMS meeting will be with Lowe’s, where we have VP’s coming in to talk to us about what we as MIS professionals can do there. Although I only found their Corporate Offices to be in North Carolina, I am hoping to find out more of what MIS Professionals can do with Lowe’s nationally. I heard internships were a possibility with Lowe’s and I am eager to learn how I can apply for a spot.

The University of Alabama MIS program allows students to work on real projects that provide real value to real companies. Students learn to leverage people, processes and technology to solve problems and meet the challenges of today’s businesses head-on. For more information, call 205-348-5525 or visit http://cba.ua.edu/mis.

On last Wednesday, January 27th from 6:30-8:30, MIS students kicked off the Spring 2010 semester at the MIS Welcome Back Party! Everyone enjoyed fun, Wing Zone food and video games while catching up with old friends and greeting the new, incoming MIS 295 students.

The UA MIS recruitment team was happy to see such a large turnout! The MIS 295 incoming class enrollment has increased over 65% since Spring 2009.

Look out for more upcoming MIS events!!

Thanks,

The Recruitment Team

Written by: Kimberly Jones

The University of Alabama MIS program allows students to work on real projects that provide real value to real companies. Students learn to leverage people, processes and technology to solve problems and meet the challenges of today’s businesses head-on. For more information, call 205-348-5525 or visit http://cba.ua.edu/mis.

My first impression of the MIS program was “Wow!” This moment was after my viewing a poster on a bulletin board with something along the lines of 100% job placement. I thought to myself and said “nah this can’t be, we are in a recession and the main reason for coming back to school was the job market being horrible.” Then I met Kerri, and she invited me to the CIO Forum, man was that pretty cool. Kerri talked to me about the MBA program she was doing and explained the Capstone experience. She sold the program to me without a pitch, but with a sense of “this is what we do here.” I had face time with the Hales, and other students in the lower levels of the program as well as the MBA students and 2nd semester seniors.

The biggest concern I had going into that meeting was how hard would this degree have to be, because my initial though was it was all IT. As I proceeded through my tour, I asked questions about how people enjoyed their time in the program. I spoke with CIO’s from Walmart and Lowe’s to smaller companies like Fabritek. They all seemed impressed with the projects and more importantly the students within the program. The forum I attended was also very useful after the mingling within the MIS programs and its partnered businesses. So I thought “I believe! This place really can have the 100% job placement.” I saw students obtain valuable experience, networking opportunities, and afterwards a questions and answers session that really help put into perspective what it really is businesses are looking for.

Tonight’s AIMS is hosting Aflac. My knowledge of Aflac was very limited prior to this visit because I thought of Aflac as just one other insurance company amongst the many. I never thought there would be employment opportunities with Aflac because it is an insurance company, and I don’t know anything about the insurance world except my deductible and my coverage. So this meeting I’m hoping will be informative and possibly fun.

The University of Alabama MIS program allows students to work on real projects that provide real value to real companies. Students learn to leverage people, processes and technology to solve problems and meet the challenges of today’s businesses head-on. For more information, call 205-348-5525 or visit http://cba.ua.edu/mis.

Pace Learning Systems provides educational programs for at-risk students and adult learners in all subject areas. Currently, Pace provides their software to customers in two formats:  CD-ROM, where it can only be accessed from the local computer it is installed on, and in print form. These formats cause a number of constraints on both Pace and their customers. As a result, this medium of software distribution is becoming obsolete due to more efficient ways of communicating, such as high-speed Internet.

The Capstone project team ‘s  primary goal is to research, evaluate, and recommend a web-based Learning Management System that will centralize Pace’s educational software  and allow them to deliver their content as a more efficient and effective service to both current and potential customers. This solution will improve Pace’s competitiveness in the market, reduce the over head time and cost associated with the current formats, and will augment the effectiveness of the instructional features with many of the tools offered within an LMS. In addition, the Capstone project team will assess Pace’s outdated technical infrastructure.  

Last week, we had our client kick-off meeting. The purpose of this meeting was to meet our Project sponsor, Patrick Lamont, and to begin gathering requirements for the project. This was a very exciting meeting because the team was able to interact face-to-face with the client and the information provided enabled our team to develop a preliminary scope of the project.

This week we are finishing our Project Charter and other necessary deliverables for the Plan stage to be complete.  Once complete, we will send it to our client for approval and signoff. This week, we will also move more into the Analyze stage. Within this stage, we will begin to define more granular requirements, allowing the team to conduct in-depth evaluations of various LMS solutions for Pace.

Overall, the project is off to a great start! As a team, we have learned many different aspects of using a methodological approach to projects, as well as how to interact in a professional setting.

Written by:  Cody Pipkins

The University of Alabama MIS program allows students to work on real projects that provide real value to real companies. Students learn to leverage people, processes and technology to solve problems and meet the challenges of today’s businesses head-on. For more information, call 205-348-5525 or visit http://cba.ua.edu/mis.

The faculty of the MIS program at the University tracks various aspects of a student’s professional development. This includes professional development plans, 360 reviews, job and internship placement info, and résumés. Currently the different types of data are updated semester to semester, but there is no tracking from one to the next. The Personal Educational Evaluation Performance System (PEEPS) application is being developed to take advantage of the opportunity to track all of these different areas of a student’s professional development.

This semester, the PEEPS team has determined the best course of action to be breaking the system down into its different components. Each component can then be built individually and connected together for use as they are finished. The piece that was determined to provide the most value the soonest was the 360 review component.

The PEEPS team has gathered the requirements of the current 360 review process to assemble the new component. The new centrally stored, web-based review application will follow the format and process of the old 360 process. Value will be added by the reduction in time for the entire process to be completed as well as the centrally located storage of the evaluations.

On Monday, November 30th, we reached the final day of building the application. The project was given a shorter deadline, so the team is very happy with what we’ve produced in the timeframe. The next step is presentation to the stakeholders: the MIS faculty and our peers.

The University of Alabama MIS program allows students to work on real projects that provide real value to real companies. Students learn to leverage people, processes and technology to solve problems and meet the challenges of today’s businesses head-on. For more information, call 205-348-5525 or visit http://cba.ua.edu/mis.

The Alabama Small Business Development Consortium (ASBDC) is an organization located at The University of Alabama that assists small businesses with their management and technology needs. The ASBDC team of the MIS Capstone provided the ASBDC with a web based data collection tool that has automated the process for them to collect data from their clients. Automating this process allows the ASBDC counselors to use their time more efficiently counseling rather than having to collect data as well as counsel.

The team was able to provide this tool buy purchasing an out-of-the box survey application and tailoring it to meet the requirements of ASBDC.

The tool has been completed and turned over to ASBDC on their server. We are currently in the process of assisting them in transferring the tool over to a production server within the information technology department at The University of Alabama.

The University of Alabama MIS program allows students to work on real projects that provide real value to real companies. Students learn to leverage people, processes and technology to solve problems and meet the challenges of today’s businesses head-on. For more information, call 205-348-5525 or visit http://cba.ua.edu/mis.