After the students have completed 16 eBusiness team tasks, they are highly skilled consultants. To prove that to themselves and the faculty, the students are once again divided into teams to work on real problems of current interest furnished by actual industrial sponsors. These Practicum problems are tackled by teams of six students with the aid of two faculty advisors.
The projects usually involve the design and implementation of an eBusiness system at least at the level of a prototype.This involves a requirements analysis, selection of a technology and consideration of alterative designs.The students must negotiate the scope of the project, achieve agreement on deliverables, and secure sponsor approval of interim deliverables. The last half of the Practicum is occupied with implementation, completion of written work product and refining presentations.
The Practicum differs from the first 16 tasks in that it is much longer (8 weeks) and each team works on a different project. There main grading criterion is sponsor satisfaction, which is the ultimate goal of a consulting company. The sponsor has presented a problem; nothing less than an effective solution is acceptable.
In addition to producing deliverables and providing an extensive briefing to the sponsor, each team makes a public presentation explaining the problem and its recommended solution, including a demonstration of a required software artifact. As an extra incentive, the presentations are judged by an independent panel of outside eBusiness experts. Each team is judged on the significance of its problem and the quality of its solution. The winning team divides a cash prize of $10,000 among its members.
The Practicum provides an opportunity for students to work closely with a company on a problem of genuine importance. The company, in turn, has a chance to observe the students in a work situation, which may lead to a subsequent employment offer. Past Practicum sponsors have included Alcoa, American Eagle Outfitters, Johnson &Johnson, PNCBank, the Port of Pittsburgh and Wells Fargo. The results of several projects have been developed by sponsors into working eBusiness systems.
Many students consider the Practicum to be the most useful and rewarding college experience of their lives. By the time they have completed this 17th and capstone project, the students are ready to face any challenge in the eBusiness sector.
Potential sponsors need to submit a one-page problem summary and assign a key contact to work with the student team throughout the 8-week project. Please forward your proposal, along with any inquires, to Patricia Mackiewicz at patty@cs.cmu.edu or (412) 268-7077.