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Canyon College

online Capstone Project course at Canyon College

COURSE SYLLABUS: Capstone Project

Course Title:
Department:
Instructor:
 CST492 - Capstone Project
Computer Science
Marvin Tanner, M.P.A., B.A. - E-mail | Vita


Welcome to the fascinating world of electronic commerce. My name is Marvin Tanner and I have the privilege of being your leader for the next 6 weeks on this online adventure into the field of ebusiness.

My career path has taken me through 27 years in software development from transaction/accounting systems to expert system development for financial applications, and recently, financial web application development.

1969 - 1974 Student, U.C. Berkeley
1975 - 1985 Cobol Programmer - Business Applications
1986 - 1989 Expert System Development with C / Unix
1990 - 1992 Researcher Arizona State University
1993 - 1995 Network Administrator
1995 - 1998 HTML Programmer
1998 - 2000 Internet Service Provider Unix Scripting / CGI
2000 - 2001 Cold Fusion Programmer / eCommerce Development
2002 - Present Vice President Nationwide ISP

Although my background suggests that this seminar has a programming emphasis, the three concepts that are most important to this seminar are: planning, budgeting, and evaluation.

I have worked with hundreds of .gone’s, and this course is a workshop on what to do to succeed in online business, and not fail.

eCommerce Practical Workshop

This course is designed to lead you from the conceptual to implementation principles of eBusiness. Therefore, it is critical that the principles of electronic commerce and marketing are understood.

Current eBusiness challenges and problems can be found in a variety of business journals and web sites. The final project is assigned on day one of this course, and each assignment feeds into the final project. For everything completed for this course, it is research for the final project.

This practice will help to link the practical issues and the theoretical constructs. This seminar will focus the design to implementation of eCommerce. Programming experience required: None. Microsoft Word and Power point can be used to develop eCommerce solutions. Word and Power Point do not offer the quality of output required in this course, so it is highly recommended that students select another tool.

All papers are formatted to MLA or APA standards.

Course Goals:
  1. Review marketing, management, and web principals
  1. To prepare students for the job market with a portfolio
  1. To expose students to the complete eBusiness cycle
  1. Practical Market Research
  2. Business Plan Development
  3. Marketing Plan Development
  4. Web Site Design and Implementation
  5. Presenting the Company to Venture Capitalists
Required Reading:

White Papers from Silicon Networks (www.siliconnetworks.us).
This reference site contains material on ebusiness, web hosting, business plans, marketing plans, and political issues such as Sarbanes Oxley, HIPPA, and federal regulation.

Garfield, Charles, Peak Performers, Avon Books (Pap Trd); ISBN #: 0380703041; Reprint edition (April 1991) ($.10-$4)

Recommended References:

Advertising Age
ZDNET
PC-WEEK

Websites:

IBM.COM, SUREPAY.COM, VISA International, Paypal.com

There are hundreds of web sites to evaluate.

Definition of a Week: The first week ends at midnight following the first day of class. The first assignment is due at that time.

INDIVIDUAL STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES

Each student is accountable for both individual assignments and a significant contribution of the study group's assignments. A student demonstrates accountability by completing all the workshop assignments and by attending all workshop and study group meetings. The final presentation determines the final grade, and all assignments are required as market research for the final project.

LATE ASSIGNMENTS: In general, there are no late assignments.

LENGTH OF RESPONSES: Each assignment is a two page critical analysis of the topic at hand. The format required is to have a thesis statement, three arguments, and a supporting conclusion. This would be a formal paper written with Microsoft Word, to MLA or APA standards. Presentation and style is 40% of each grade.

Restated: page three will not be read, unless otherwise stated in syllabus.

Week 1: Victoria's Secret is one of the most successful eBusiness solutions and technological disasters. The Victoria Secret fashion show has failed from a performance perspective almost every time it has been offered. Evaluate this failure in terms of Planning for Performance in eBusiness.

Week 2: Survey of Cosmetics Sites
Select and evaluate a cosmetics company that is using eCommerce as part of the marketing mix. What methodologies are they using? Evaluate the apparent supply chain and credit card processing. Evaluate three cosmetic companies for what you think is the optimal web solution. What was the criteria used to determine the features defining the best cosmetic web site. What are the best features of their site, and what benefits are offered to the consumer? Why are cosmetics a product line that is a candidate for eBusiness? This is a five to six page paper. Check also a student project located at http://66.123.75.132.

Week 3: eCommerce Project
Project definition for your own cosmetic company. Funding: student defined (limit of $100,000). The minimum requirements for this project are: business plan, marketing plan, technology plan, and web site design. There will be no working web site, just the theoretical plan for Week 3. Be sure to read the white paper on business plan development.

Week 4: Advertising on The Web
The Web experienced phenomenal advertising growth in recent years but is now dropping off. Why might that be true? Is the Internet still a good place to advertise? What is the difference between web advertising and web promotion? Which is more effective? What is the relationship between advertising and promotion to the web indexing process. Certainly, ideas from this paper should appear in the final revision of your business and marketing plans.

Week 5: HTML and Macromedia Products
Students will work with web tools to complete the project for an online presentation. Nothing to turn in for grading from this week. Which web broadcast solution will you choose for your final presentation? Delivery is the key in selling your project online. Test the results for audio and video clarity. Something to consider: should you use Net Meeting or Microsoft Media Server with Windows 2002/2003 Server?

Week Six: eCommerce Presentation: Selling of the Company to Venture Capitalists
In class final presentations of eCommerce projects. This is a working web site using the development tool of your choice. Included in the presentation will be hosting options, security analysis, redundancy, and a demonstration of the eBusiness web site. Evaluation will be on web site content, flow, ease of use, and credit card accessibility.

Evaluation on this project will be strictly on your online presentation. The setting: Presentation of your company to venture capitalists. You are selling the entire company, not the business plan and website to venture capitalists. There will be a Power point Presentation and the final version of the business and marketing plan. The format should be the slide presentation as an introduction, review of the business plan and marketing plan; demonstration of the web site; the presentation close which includes asking for venture capitalist buy in. Dress for the occasion, you are selling yourself.

Certainly in the final project, also consider the legal, political, and regulatory issues. Would Sarbanes-Oxley apply to this site, and what are the implications?

This presentation is live using Microsoft Net Meeting. Dress for the presentation in a live broadcast. Several venture capitalists will evaluate your presentation. Net Meeting will not work with dial up access. You will need a microphone with a headset. A video cam is highly recommended. A test of the NetMeeting Network will be in Week Three (15 Minute Online Conference with the instructor to review grades, writing style, and academic progress).

A note on the project: The project should represent all of the topics covered in this workshop. Students will create a press release inviting the public to attend the presnetation, and it will be distributed through the instructors press network at no charge to the student. Be well prepared, your next employer might be watching.

Grading:

Assignment Points Your Score Grade




Victoria’s Secret 15

Cosmetic eBusiness Review 15

The Business Plan 15

Effective Web Advertising 15

The Final Presentation 40









Total Points 100



Grading:

A 97-100 B- 81-84 D+ 65-68
A- 93-96 C+ 77-80 D 61-64
B+ 89-92 C 73-76 D- 77-60
B 85-88 C- 69-72 F 73-76


In the event there is a question on a grade issued to a student, this syllabus is the contract between the student and the instructor. There are no other implied documents or policies, and the student’s papers will be rescored by another instructor for a grade determination.