Alabama has the tenth highest unemployment rate in the United States. The current rate of 10.7% creates a demand for employment options to those affected by company closings. One option that the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs is offering to those affected is entrepreneurship.

Launching Entrepreneurs Across Rural Networks (LEARN) is a program that helps emerging entrepreneurs in rural communities achieve the American dream of owning their own business. In turn this will boost economic development within the state of Alabama by creating jobs, sustaining small communities, and attracting other businesses to these areas.

The program is funded by a million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Labor and the Alabama Department of Economic Affairs. LEARN is intended to be a proof-of concept for the three year grant stemming from the Growing America Through Entrepreneurship (GATE) model and the LEARN program is designed around this eight step GATE model.

Currently, we are working on a redesign of the LEARN process. Since the beginning of the semester, we have analyzed the current system and formed recommendations to make it easier for eligible dislocated workers to register for the LEARN program. The redesign process has taken into the account that the program is not reaching the participant levels set forth by the stakeholders. Therefore we have made it possible for any displaced worker to register, despite where they have been laid off.

The most significant feature we have added is the ability to raise awareness for the program via promotional material. In order to incorporate this, we have designed posters, brochures, and created ads to help spread the word of the program. Raising awareness of the program will increase the number of potential participants that can apply for the program.

Some of the benefits of applying for LEARN are free training and one-on-one counseling. In order to receive the benefits, potential participants must apply for a LEARN Scholarship. Applying for the scholarship does not guarantee participation in the program.

The redesigned process will help increase the number of small businesses within the state of Alabama, stimulate the economy and increase the number of jobs for displaced workers in rural areas.

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 Office of Information Technology (OIT) uses multiple Content Management Systems (CMS) to develop websites for both students and faculty/staff.  This results in a fragmented web presence as sites do not have a consistent look and feel with the University of Alabama brand.  In addition, the number of website requests received monthly is greater than can be fulfilled, thus resulting in a backlog.  The MIS Capstone team was tasked with first evaluating the overall web development process, and then evaluating various content management systems to integrate within the process.  In doing so, we believe OIT can greatly improve both their web presence and the throughput of website requests.

We completed our evaluation of content management systems this week, and have decided upon a dual CMS solution.  The evaluation process was very thorough and involved five open source CMS as well as a proprietary, fee-based CMS.  Among those evaluated are Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, SilverStripe, Plone, and Adobe Contribute.  Based upon the business requirements gathered during the requirements definition phase of our project, we have decided upon WordPress for simple site requests and Joomla for more complex, robust sites. 

Both Joomla and WordPress allow the end-user to easily create and place content without getting bogged down in the technical details.  This is ideal for OIT, as the website requestor will, in most cases, maintain and update his or her website with new articles, pictures, and content.  In addition to content creation, Joomla’s extensive templates and extensions allow OIT to create custom layouts and add professional-looking features quickly and easily without the need for a great deal of coding. 

Today, November 20, we presented our findings and recommendation to OIT and received a very positive response.  We will not know whether our recommendation is accepted until November 30, but we are confident in our recommendation and feel it is the best solution to fully integrate with OIT’s current business process.

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.

To keep its place as one of the leading consumer product goods companies, Procter & Gamble is focused on understanding the current market state and predicting how future market changes affect consumer behavior and global brand strategy. P&G tasked the UA MIS team with two projects to support these goals. Firstly, the team developed a method of estimating key consumer metrics by country and built an application to facilitate analysis of these metrics and assessment of future opportunities. In addition, the team created a process by which specific brand measures could be compared over time and assessed for positive growth.

Secondly, the team has benchmarked and recommended a data visualization solution for global market and economic data to aid decision makers’ focus on salient issues. This recommendation will be supplemented by a selection of customized graphs and dashboards, focusing on important concepts and trends. With these new capabilities, P&G will be better able to identify where current and new market opportunities lie, and how it can successfully implement its brand strategy in those areas.

Currently, the team has completed all major deliverables and is preparing for its final presentation. We will be travelling to Cincinnati to deliver our products in person and present our findings. The project has been a valuable learning experience for the team, exposing them to the fast-paced world of marketing strategy and analytics.

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 Walmart RPAS Team has just begun the build phase of our project. It is an exciting time when all our work as a team comes together, piece by piece, into a final product. As we move through this process we are meeting unexpected challenges that test our design, project scope, and timetable. Each challenge is different, and the experience we receive while managing them is an important factor in our growth as MIS professionals. The solution we are building will add significant value to how Walmart operates and scales it’s systems.

This project has presented us with many real-world situations. It required bringing together teams across the country, from UA and Walmart, to collaborate on a solution. Through that relationship we began the design of a system that will bring large amounts of raw data and create a centralized source of actual information for Walmart to use in key operational decisions. The team was introduced to state of the art systems and software from the world’s leading manufacturers, whilst they were being operated by the largest retailer on the planet! Now, as we near the end of our project, we can say how much we have learned and how proficient we have become in the many areas MIS given the opportunity to work in.

It has been an eye opening project. There were many hurdles that we managed to overcome. We continue to have an optimistic vision for the future of both our project, and our potential as information systems extraordinaires.

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 week, November 11, the Women In Technology (WIT) organization took a relaxing study break! The Women in IT visited ALL Fired UP, located in Northport, AL. ALL Fired UP is a contemporary ceramic arts studio where you can paint pottery and create your own unique gifts.

The evening began with everyone choosing a unique piece of pottery that they liked. Next, everyone picked out the colors they wanted to paint their pottery piece with  from ALL Fired UP’s wide assortment of colors. While painting our masterpieces, the Women in IT were able to catch up and chat with other WIT members while enjoying refreshments and listening to Christmas music.

Now, everyone is anxiously awaiting to see their finished, shiny masterpiece. Everyone had a wonderful time! WIT’s next event will be a Game Night during the first week in December.

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

By: Chris Baswell – Team Member

Last spring, the MIS program at the University of Alabama partnered with Alfa Insurance on a year-long project to provide Alfa with the necessary systems for compliance with recent Medicare legislation. The new rules, found in Section 111 of the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007, mandate that all insurance providers report to Medicare their payouts to Medicare-eligible beneficiaries.  This will ensure that individuals do not receive payment for their medical expenses from both a private insurer and Medicare. The deadline for compliance is Q2 2010. Failure to comply will result in fines of $1000 per claim/per day. At that rate, the cost to Alfa could well exceed an estimated $40MM annually.

The project required the UA teams to research the law, develop an understanding of the requirements and design, build and implement a solution for gathering and reporting the requisite information.  Thanks to the efforts of the Spring team, Alfa adjusters now have a web application that stores the required data in a database.  Our team has now begun work on phase two of the project.  The main focus of the team this semester will revolve around designing and building the means of compiling and formatting the data and implementing the process for transmitting that data to Medicare on a quarterly basis.

Additionally, we will be adding print functionality and enhanced search capabilities to the current web application.  The purpose of this is to improve the visibility of the data and to integrate these new requirements into Alfa’s existing business processes as neatly as possible.  The additional search parameters will allow users to review and update claims more easily.  The ability to print the claims will ensure that the data is portable and accessible to all users of the system.

This project represents a unique opportunity for University of Alabama MIS students to gain crucial work experience while providing real value to a business that serves over a million customers. For more information about the UA MIS program and to read about the other exciting endeavors our students are undertaking, visit http://cba.ua.edu/mis

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

Alfa Insurance is a home, auto and life insurance provider with main operations in the Southeastern states of Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi.  Alfa was founded in 1946 and has since grown to become one of the area’s leading insurance companies.  Widely known for superior customer service, Alfa has gained an A++ rating for property, casualty and life coverage.  The company also ranks among the Forbes top 200 Best Small Companies in America.  As a result of its success, Alfa now serves over a million customers.

The UA team consists of project manager Jarrod Stanley and team members Chris Baswell, Brian Screws and Amanda Wilson.  The faculty sponsor is Shane Givens.

The Lowe’s team is gaining experience with high levels of constraints this semester. The Lowe’s team is improving Lowe’s IT Operations contract labor invoice approval process using Microsoft SharePoint. Due to personnel and training concerns, we are constricted to using out-of-the-box functionality within SharePoint. The goals in using SharePoint are to reduce current process inefficiencies, hold a central repository of all contract labor invoices, and develop an extensible system for the future. Lowe’s is currently in the process of increasing their ability to support SharePoint as a business tool instead of a document library. This semester’s team is helping pilot the use of SharePoint as a process improvement tool.

Our constraints mainly include not being able to use SharePoint helper products like SharePoint designer, unable to create custom workflows or code, as well as connect to any external databases. Over the past few months, the Lowe’s team has not only worked within these constraints, but also documented specific process improvements that can be made once Lowe’s IT support for SharePoint increases. It has proven to be very beneficial to each of our team member’s technical development to drive into some of the features included within SharePoint instead of relying on customized code. SharePoint Designer, custom code, and 3rd-party products may seem as the best option, but after gathering our requirements, the team has come to the conclusion that we can meet most requirements and still bring value to Lowe’s.

The team’s plan is to provide a functioning system to Lowe’s that is readily extensible as well provide documentation on where more value could be added to the system once some of the constraints are lifted enterprise-wide at Lowe’s.

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

Motion Industries is an industrial part supplier located in Birmingham, Alabama. They supply parts to industries such as energy and logistics. Motion serves its customers with not only parts, but with maintenance and repair services as well. They accomplish this with 500 locations in North America.

Motion has recently started a new employee training program called the “Power of 3″.  With this, Motion wants to know which employees have taken their required courses, as well as how well they are doing in the courses. Their goal is to have a more efficient and knowledgeable sales force and employee base.

Recently, we have been designing a system to accomplish their tracking goals. We have been in discussions with Motion about our ideas to create a design that best fits their company.  As of this week, we have started designing screen mock-ups and have gone on-site to get training in their technical architecture.  We hope in the near future to finish with design and move into build in which we hope to build a limited prototype of the tracking system.

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

Last week, Protective Life visited the MIS program at the weekly AIMS meeting. Protective Life is over 100 years old and has grown through acquisitions. Many of the latest projects have been focused on assimilating these acquisitions into one process.  There are 20 US offices and one Canadian office.

The presenters, Jeremy, Allen, and Matthew, spoke about their areas and what each supports. Matthew works in Analytics. This area is primarily responsible for system maintenance. This includes everything from gathering requirements to quality assurance. This is where Protective brings together the customer demands and the process demands.  Allen spoke about the Infrastructure area. This area includes the database administrators, servers, communication (e-mail, etc.), and the networks. This group also supports all of the applications used on an employee’s desktop.  They also manage risk and security for Protective.

There is also a relatively new area in Protective’s IT group that holds many opportunities. This is Business Process Improvement. Members of BPI investigate a process and find ways to make it better with fewer or, potentially, more resources.

Protective will be aggressively recruiting to fill many full time positions, primarily in the Analytics area. There are also opportunities for internships available. If you are interested, please visit their website at http://www.protectivelife.com/ProtectiveP3.asp?ID=2.

The next AIMS meeting will be October 27. Alfa will be presenting.

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 Office of Information Technology (OIT) facilitates research, enhances instruction, and supports administrative operations by providing quality leadership, services, and resources in information technology for the University of Alabama.
One of the many services that OIT provides is developing websites, using Content Management Systems (CMS), for their clients such as UA departments, organizations and professors. There is currently no standardized business process for OIT to develop and deploy of web pages. This is inefficient and causes time delays and low project intake numbers. Our team is to evaluate the current processes and recommend the business and technical changes to create a more efficient development environment.
The MIS Project Team will create a repeatable process to assist OIT in achieving its new customer-centered strategic initiative, by improving their client throughput time and their service offerings to The University of Alabama faculty, staff, and students. To achieve this, the OIT Capstone team will do the following: Analyze OIT’s current process flow and CMS; evaluate CMS options, hosting solutions, and determine future capabilities; recommend CMS solutions, business process changes, and hosting solutions and implement CMS solution, process changes, and handoff training materials.

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