Student Name(s):

Deliverable: Exercise #2 – Synthesis Workshop (Zorin)

Course Name: Communications for Effective Business Analysis

Date Assigned: Class 2

Date Due: Class 3, before the start of class (12:59 pm)

Rules: 1. Group-based or individual.

2. Cheating is not allowed. Plagiarism counts as cheating!
3. If it is discovered that you have plagiarized or otherwise cheated on
this exercise it will be brought up DURING your presentation in-front
of the class. You will immediately be fired (receive a grade of 0) for
failing to secure the contract.
4. Group sizes can be 2 – 3 members only
a. No groups of 1 are allowed under any circumstances
b. Groups of 3 will be graded harder
c. You have more workers, we expect more
Objective
This exercise has multiple objectives:

1) This scenario will provide students with a case that reflects a real-life scenario and provide valuable hands-
on experience in both rapid proposal development and in better understanding the relationship between IT
and Business.
2) This deliverable allows the Instructor a chance to gauge your preparedness and ability to ‘think outside the
box’ along with your report writing skills and your ability to communicate IT solutions effectively.

Scenario
This was an actual case, and contract, that was brought into class for students to receive hands-on work
experience. While the case, and contract, are now over the learning experience proved to be exceptionally valuable, as
such Conestoga College has opted to bring this opportunity, as practice, to you!

It is time to lend a helping hand! A local business, CDL (name replaced to respect their privacy), has contacted
your Instructor as a consultant to provide a solution for an on-going, and quickly growing, problem within CDL. CDL is a
local seller of PC monitors and stands to automotive, manufacturing and industrial systems. All parts and products are
sourced from China and shipped to Canada for sale and re-distribution. Recently CDL secured a contract valued at $4
million dollars annually supplying monitors and stands to China and Hong Kong. This sudden windfall of funds increased
CDL’s yearly average annual sales of $3.5 million to $7.5 million overnight and effectively doubled their workload. CDL
made the quick decision to create a new branch located in China and hire eight (8) English speaking IT and Sales
professionals. However, before CDL can begin the arduous task of restructuring and growing its firm it first needs to
address the internal infrastructure problems that, up until this point, were previously looked at as a minor nuisance.
What were these problems? Well let’s talk about that…

1) This is partially completed as an in-class exercise through which you will need to be in attendance in-class to
retrieve and record valuable information.
a. This also affords your Instructor an opportunity to tweak, add, or subtract elements from the
original narrative as necessary to meet the needs of the class.
2) Below are informal responses elicited from the actual client.

Client Provided Details (unformatted)

The following was informally gathered responses and requirements provided by the organizations head System
Administrator. Conestoga College assumes no responsibility over the accuracy of the presented content.

Can you provide a quick run-down of the problem from your perspective?
The owner is talking about having global presence by utilizing branches in China, Hong Kong, and possibly
Mexico, to ship directly to our customers around the world. Canada will still be the head office and center for research &
develop[ment] of new products. Please allow me to pitch your request to the owner and respond accordingly.
 In other news, I have requested and received approval to purchase 2 x 2TB drives to replace the ailing server
hard drives we have (the poor OS is starving for space, 10 important updates fail because of lack of room on the
partition). I just have to partition and mirror the new drives and install the server software and port over the network
folders. I want to take my time and do it right, so to the transition is seamless to the end users, likely over a weekend.
Our E mail and web are hosted by Network Solutions, so in that sense I have a bit of relief.

Lastly, I am restricted by the client machine operating systems, none authenticate against AD on the server as
they are all Win7 Home edition!! The owners mentality is "buy used machines with O/S already installed", just so that he
can get around the licensing legalities. I tried to explain that in a business setting we are obligated to renew our license
every year regardless of the OS level, which will also grant us support from Microsoft. That did not produce a positive
effect. So I work with what I have......I am currently running a flavor of Linux on my machine here at work, so if I can
make that work, then I may switch everyone over (maybe a dual boot, so they can both worlds) --> No shortage of
exciting and challenging work here! (lovin it!!)

What is the standard role type at your facility?

“We have the owner who is very busy taking over the world!! We sell replacement monitors for industrial
applications. (production machines, bank tellers, we have a big contract with Chrysler and Ford, etc... 1 person is the
controller (money person) 5 people in sales. 3 engineers/product developers, 2 assembly production/service agents, a
shipper and me the purchasing inventory Network admin (yours truly)”

Are there meeting areas/lab areas?

“yes, we do have an engineering area, and the 3D printing milling room. Production assembly area, and a small
warehouse to hold 3 to 5 months stock.”

Anything you would like to add that you think would be pertinent?

“We primarily buy from China. All the LCD panels and cables come from China. then the metal bezels are
sourced locally. When we do run out, we buy from Digi-Key or EBay, at a higher cost. we are looking into direct selling a
lot of material (touch screens and such) that do not require assembly directly from China. The owner is going to China in
late November to set this up.”

What are the system pain points?

“We have a server (tower) NAME REDACTED, with Windows 2012 Essentials license. Also, the engineers use
Auto CAD which we have bought the license out right (for 2 users) and are now finding the software life-cycle has come
about. As in we need to upgrade and CAD is asking for a monthly charge which we are not willing to pay.”
Deliverables
Report:
A written report, ideally no longer than three (3) pages in length, physical bound and delivered to your
Instructor before the beginning of class on the assigned due date as well as submitted through dropbox. Your entire
report does not need to exceed 3-pages. A 2-page report can be significantly more valuable than a 20-page report.
Length does not win contracts, clarity of solution and the ability to articulate the solution wins contracts.

Presentation:
A verbal presentation accompanied by a PowerPoint file which must be submitted to the dropbox before the
beginning of class on the assigned due date. This PowerPoint cannot be greater than 20 slides.

Both deliverables will need to include the following sections, please note that the questions listed underneath the
sections do not require answers as they are not mandatory, they are jumping-off points for brainstorming potential
content for each section:

Objective
o What is the goal of this case and solution?

Opportunity Statement
o What are our opportunities to grow or improve?
o What good can come from this situation?

Critical Assumptions
o What are your critical assumptions for success?

Implementation Strategy
o How will you deploy without effecting operations?

Recommendations
o What are your recommendations?
o Have 2 – 3 options to choose from
o Justify your recommendation

Requirements
o What do you need to complete this project?

Budget Estimate
o This must be realistic and valid
o Base your calculations on if YOU delivered the solution
 Schedule Estimate
o How long would it take you to deliver?
o What would be your delivery strategy?

Potential Risks
o What are the greatest risks?
o How will you mitigate risk?
o Do not overburden this area with a list of irrelevant risks
o List only realistic, significant, risks
o List plausible approaches to risk mitigation
o Keep in mind your constraints:
o You are an outside consultant
o Budget

Constraints
The following constraints are absolute and cannot be modified, changed or challenged. This exercise will be treated as a
proper, professional business submission. Failure to adhere to any of the following constraints will result in an automatic
grade of zero (0) for which no makeup grades can be provided.

 There is a STRICT deadline enforced for this submission! This submission MUST be submitted BEFORE the start of
the following class. Failure to do this WILL result in a grade of 0.
 If you have made any mistakes or left out information from your report or PowerPoint, then you are stuck with
your incomplete or incorrect work. You may not resubmit after the deadline has close.
o The presentation you make must be from the unmodified PowerPoint file that you have submitted.
o An unaltered hardcopy of your report must be presented to your Instructor before your group presents.
 Once you have submitted a report you may make absolutely no changes or alterations.

Your team will have 5 to 7 minutes to present their PowerPoint presentation for which each team will be independently
responsible for monitoring their own time. Be forewarned that you will need to carefully plan out your time as to not
rush the end of your presentation.
o Each team member must speak
o Missing the presentation day results in a grade of 0
o There are no exceptions without doctor’s note or death certificate
o Grade Penalty: 20% for each minute over time limit.
o Grade Penalty: 20% for each minute under time limit.
Evaluation
Your evaluation will be held to the following rules and constraints. These rules are firm and are irrefutable.

 Failure to submit this completed deliverable will result in a grade of zero (0) on this deliverable. See Conestoga
College policy for additional information.
o There will be no opportunity provided to make up for this missed deliverable or raise your grade.
o In the instance that the failure to submit this work results in a grade of zero (0) that ultimately causes an
overall course grade below fifty-five (55) then there will be no opportunity to perform any work, tests,
activities or tasks to raise your grade above the failing mark.
 It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that their work has been submitted through eConestoga, on-time, to
the correct course and in the correct folder.
o If you submit your work to the incorrect folder then you may not receive any grade for your work. This
will be completely up to the discretion of your Instructor.
o If you, the student, submit your file to the wrong folder or course on eConestoga then you must simply
resubmit to the correct folder.

Your work, once submitted through eConestoga, will be evaluated based on the following criteria.

 This exercise has an extremely different grading scale than previous work that you have produced.
 The grading scale will be determined based on ranking, ie,. The best proposal to the least complete proposal.
o 45% of your grade will be determined by this factor.
o 55% of your grade will be determined by your professionalism, quality of presentation and clarity of
speaking.

Rubric

Position Maximum # of groups that can rank Ranking: Presentation:

in this category Out of ( /50) Out of ( /50)
First: Won the contract Only 1 group can place Grade = 50 Grade up to 50
Second: Runner-up Only 1 group can place Grade = 42 Grade up to 50
Third: Required additional work Only 1 group can place Grade = 34 Grade up to 50
Fourth: Non-competitive Up to 3 groups can place Grade = 26 Grade up to 50
Fifth: Incomplete solution Up to 3 groups can place Grade = 18 Grade up to 50
Sixth: Did not understand the client Up to 20 groups can place Grade = 10 Grade up to 50
Did not place/did not submit Up to 20 groups can place Grade = 0 Grade up to 50

Please note that professionalism of presentation and quality of presentation is the other evaluation criterion which
accounts for 50% of your grade on this exercise. Feedback will be provided verbally at the end of your presentation and
will not have a written component. Items that will be taken into consideration as part of professionalism include:

 Sentence structure and grammar

 Spelling
 Clear formatting
 Choice of language and terminology
 Clarity of structure (readability)
Submission Details
SUBMISSION LOCATION SUBMISSION SPECIFICS
Course: Communications
Submission: Assignments There is a STRICT deadline enforced for this
Folder: Exercise #2 – Synthesis Workshop submission! This submission MUST be submitted BEFORE
Work Type: Group the start of the following class. Failure to do this WILL
File Type(s): PDF and PPTX result in a grade of 0.
Only one submission per group, include all group member
# of Files: 2 names within eConestoga (dropbox) assignment notes.

FILE NAMES
All submissions must adhere to the programs naming convention. For details
regarding this naming convention documentation can be retrieved from the How-To module,
within the Support module for your course on eConestoga, file name “O3 - Student
Submissions Naming Convention - ver1.0.PDF.” If this is group work you must include your
group members names within your work and within the NOTES section of your Assignments
submission. Submitting your work with an improper file type may result in a grade of zero (0)
being assigned.

ACADEMIC HONESTY
1) By submitting your work through Conestoga College’s eConestoga Assignments you hereby affirm that;
a. You are in complete understanding of, and accept in full, the Academic Integrity Policy and Violation of
Academic Integrity Policy of Conestoga College. If you are not familiar with these policies it is your
responsibility to familiarize yourself with them, in full, before submitting any work through eConestoga.
b. The work that you have submitted is your own work and has not been: taken, replicated, duplicated or
copied in any way from any source inside or outside of the classroom.
c. Your work will be retained and indexed by Turnitin.com for academic honesty and comparison purposes.
2) If you share your work with, or use the work of, others then your grade (along with the grade of any other
participating1 student) will be adjusted to reflect this infraction and you will face academic penalties2 including, but
not limited to;
• Discontinuance for Conestoga for a minimum of 12 months and a failing grade for all current courses.
• A failed grade for the course and suspension from Conestoga College for an indeterminate length of time.
• A failed grade for the course, which may result in your inability to continue in your Program.
• A failed grade for the deliverable on which the Academic Integrity Policy was violated.
3) Turnitin.com will compare the values and data of each student submission against submissions from;
 Your current classmates, including all submissions they have made in the past or present.
 Former students of your program as well as students from other intakes for your program.
 Students enrolled in any course or program at Conestoga College, past or present.
 A perpetually growing database of work from 26 million students from Colleges and Universities worldwide.
 More than 12 billion webpages including all mainstream data sites, repositories and wikis.
 Direct quotations taken from any source will be identified by Turnitin.com and will require Instructor review,
it is, therefore, imperative that you cite any work(s) taken from other sources following proper APA form.

1 Participation includes both unknowing participation as well as willful participation in any activity that results in academic misconduct.
2 See Conestoga College policy for additional information.