MBA 690 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric

MBA 690 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric

Overview

The final project for this course is the creation of a project management plan.

Managing technology in support of business operations is key to profitable operations management (OM). Profit maximization can result from a business manager’s ability to cut production costs or generate new revenue after applying a new technology or developing new products or services. To ensure the profitability of a business opportunity, a manager must be able to envision the entire life cycle of a business product, service, or idea. Only then can the manager create a plan to guide the business product, service, or idea from inception to retirement in a sustainable and profitable manner.

For this assessment, you will develop a project management plan focused on profitable and sustainable operations; the basis for this project management plan will be the company and business product, service, or other idea from the business plan you created in the Marketing and Strategy course. In your project management plan, you will manage the scope-time-cost parameters of the project by assessing relevant obstacles and risks. You will determine appropriate risk mitigation strategies for your project, while also considering future innovations and profits.

The project is divided into three milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Three, Five, and Seven. The final project management plan will be submitted in Module Nine.

In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:

Assess the evolution of operations management philosophies and structures for their impact on modern business operations
Assess key trends in production, quality, resource, and information management for their impact on current business operations
Develop a project management plan using elements of both traditional and iterative methods to meet scope, time, and cost objectives of projects in operations management
Determine appropriate risk mitigation strategies for managing projects by assessing and quantifying risks and impediments
Determine key measures of performance that reflect profitability and sustainability for managing product or service life cycles

Prompt

Develop a project management plan for the company and product, service, or other idea from your business plan in the Marketing and Strategy course.

Note: If, for some reason, you cannot use the company and product, service, or other idea from your business plan, you will need to work with your instructor to select another company and corresponding business product, service, or idea.

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

Operations Management: In this section, you will assess the history and trends of operations management, focusing on the business or company from your business plan in the Marketing and Strategy course. Specifically, you should:
1. Assess the significant forces that have shaped operations management in recent history. How did these forces impact the business operations of your company? If your company does not yet exist, how do you envision these forces will impact the business operations of your company?Critique the key obstacles and issues that confronted company management during the evolution of operations management into the modern era. How did your company’s management handle these obstacles? If your company did not exist then, how do you think they would have responded to these issues? Assess changes to operations management philosophies and organizational structures in response to the evolving complexity of business operations. In other words, what has changed and why? Analyze the business operations of your selected company. Consider questions such as these in your response: What organizational processes does the company use? How do the business operations support the strategic plan, mission, and vision of the company? What factors affect productivity and profitability? Determine the key trends in production, quality, resource, and information management with a focus on the business operations of your company.
1. Assess the impact of these key trends on the business operations of your selected company and on the business product, service, or other idea in your business plan.

Operationalization: In this section, you will discuss the operationalization of a business opportunity, specifically the business product, service, or other idea from your business plan in the Marketing and Strategy course. Specifically, you should:
1. Project the potential costs, risks, and benefits of operationalizing your business idea. Your projections should be supported with rationale.

[MBA-690-04]

Develop a work breakdown structure for your business idea. Your work breakdown structure should include at least three tasks with at least three subtasks each.
- Provide a narrative justifying each task and subtask that is part of your work breakdown structure.
- Identify key milestones, deliverables, and resource requirements associated with operationalizing your business idea based on your work breakdown structure. The key milestones, deliverables, and resource requirements should be supported with an explanation of how they will help the project meet scope-time-cost objectives.
- Assess potential obstacles and impediments to meeting scope-time-cost objectives of the project, supporting your assessment with rationale.
- Determine appropriate risk mitigation strategies to address the obstacles, impediments, and risks you have identified.

Life Cycle: In this section, you will discuss the life cycle of your business product, service, or other idea from your business plan in the Marketing and Strategy course. Specifically, you should:
1. Describe the life cycle of the business idea. Focus your response on the future of the business idea, specifically on its growth and eventual decline.
1. Assess the profit generation and cost-saving opportunities associated with the business idea based on the life cycle you described. Your assessment should be supported with rationale.
1. Determine a phase-out plan for your business idea that ensures a sustainable solution that makes way for future innovation and profit streams. Ensure that you justify the steps in your plan.

Milestones

Milestone One: Operations Management

In Module Three, you will submit the Operations Management section (Section I) of your project management plan. Assess the history and trends of operations management, focusing on the business or company from your business plan in the Marketing and Strategy course. Specifically, you should assess the significant forces that have shaped operations management in recent history and answer the following:

How did these forces impact the business operations of your company?
If your company does not yet exist, how do you envision these forces will impact the business operations of your company?
Critique the key obstacles and issues that confronted company management during the evolution of operations management into the modern era. How did your company’s management handle these obstacles? If your company did not exist then, how do you think they would have responded to these issues?
Assess changes to operations management philosophies and organizational structures in response to the evolving complexity of business operations. In other words, what has changed and why? Analyze the business operations of your selected company. Consider questions such as these in your response:
- What organizational processes does the company use? o How do the business operations support the strategic plan, mission, and vision of the company?
- What factors affect productivity and profitability?
Determine the key trends in production, quality, resource, and information management with a focus on the business operations of your company.
Assess the impact of these key trends on the business operations of your selected company and on the business product, service, or other idea in your business plan.

This milestone should be 8 to 10 pages in length. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone One Rubric.

Milestone Two: Operationalization

In Module Five, you will submit a discussion of the operationalization of a business opportunity (Section II), specifically the business product, service, or other idea from your business plan in the Marketing and Strategy course. You should project the potential costs, risks, and benefits of operationalizing your business idea. Your projections should be supported with rationale.

Develop a work breakdown structure for your business idea. Your work breakdown structure should include at least three tasks with at least three subtasks each. Provide a narrative justifying each task and subtask that is part of your work breakdown structure.

Identify key milestones, deliverables, and resource requirements associated with operationalizing your business idea based on your work breakdown structure. The key milestones, deliverables, and resource requirements should be supported with an explanation of how they will help the project meet scope-time-cost objectives. Assess potential obstacles and impediments to meeting scope-time-cost objectives of the project, supporting your assessment with rationale.

Determine appropriate risk mitigation strategies to address the obstacles, impediments, and risks you have identified.

This milestone should be 8-10 pages in length. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Two Rubric.

Milestone Three: Life Cycle

In Module Seven, you will submit a discussion of the life cycle management (Section III) of your business product, service, or other idea from your business plan in the Marketing and Strategy course. You should describe the life cycle of the business idea. Focus your response on the future of the business idea, specifically on its growth and eventual decline. Assess the profit generation and cost-saving opportunities associated with the business idea based on the life cycle you described. Your assessment should be supported with rationale. Determine a phase-out plan for your business idea that ensures a sustainable solution that makes way for future innovation and profit streams. Ensure that you justify the steps in your plan.

This milestone should be 8-10 pages in length. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Three Rubric.

Final Submission: ProjectManagement Plan

In Module Nine, you will submit your completed project management plan. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final product. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. This submission will be graded with the Final Project Rubric.

Deliverables

Milestone	Deliverable	Module Due	Grading
One	Operations Management	Three	Graded separately; Milestone One Rubric
Two	Operationalization	Five	Graded separately; Milestone Two Rubric
Three	Life Cycle	Seven	Graded separately; Milestone Three Rubric
	Final Submission: Project Management Plan	Nine	Graded separately; Final Project Rubric

Final Project Rubric

Guidelines for Submission: Your project management plan should adhere to the following formatting requirements: It is submitted as an APA-style Microsoft Word (or open source) document, 15-20 pages (not including title and reference pages), double-spaced, using 12-point Times New Roman font and one-inch margins. There should be a minimum of five authoritative references used in your final paper. The final paper should be a summary of all the preceding milestone submissions that incorporate any suggested changes noted in the instructor’s feedback.

Critical Elements	Exemplary (100%)	Proficient (90%)	Needs Improvement (70%)	Not Evident (0%)	Value
Significant Forces [MBA-690-01]	Meets “Proficient” criteria and response is exceptionally clear and detailed	Comprehensively assesses the significant forces that have shaped operations management in recent history or will shape it in the future, focusing on impact on business operations of selected company	Assesses the significant forces that have shaped operations management in recent history or will shape it in the future, but response lacks a focus on impact on selected company or is cursory or inaccurate	Does not assess the significant forces that have shaped operations management in recent history or will shape it in the future	6.33
Key Obstacles [MBA-690-01]	Meets “Proficient” criteria and response is exceptionally clear and detailed	Accurately critiques the key obstacles or issues that confronted or will confront company management during evolution of operations management into modern era, focusing on management of selected company	Critiques the key obstacles or issues that confronted or will confront company management during evolution of operations management into modern era, but response lacks a focus on management of selected company, is cursory, or is inaccurate	Does not critique the key obstacles or issues that confronted company management during evolution of operations management into modern era	6.33
Changes [MBA-690-01]	Meets “Proficient” criteria and response is exceptionally clear and detailed	Comprehensively assesses changes to operations management and organizational structures in response to evolving complexity of business operations	Assesses changes to operations management and organizational structures in response to evolving complexity of business operations, but assessment is cursory or inaccurate	Does not assess changes to operations management and organizational structures in response to evolving complexity of business operations	6.33
Business Operations [MBA-690-02]	Meets “Proficient” criteria and analysis demonstrates keen insight into company’s business operations	Comprehensively analyzes business operations of selected company	Analyzes business operations of selected company, but response is cursory or inaccurate	Does not analyze business operations of selected company	6.33

Key Trends [MBA-690-02]	Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates keen insight into trends in operations management	Accurately determines key trends in production, quality, resource, and information management, focusing on business operations of company	Determines key trends in production, quality, resource, and information management, but response is not focused on business operations of company or has gaps in accuracy or detail	Does not determine key trends in production, quality, resource, and information management	6.33
Impact [MBA-690-02]	Meets “Proficient” criteria and assessment demonstrates nuanced understanding of relationship between business operations and trends in operations management	Comprehensively assesses the impact of identified key trends on business operations of selected company and business idea	Assesses the impact of identified key trends on business operations of selected company and business idea, but assessment is cursory or inaccurate	Does not assess the impact of identified key trends on business operations of selected company and business idea	6.33
Potential Costs [MBA-690-04]	Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates keen insight into assessing and quantifying project components	Logically projects potential costs, risks, and benefits of operationalizing business idea, supporting projections with rationale	Projects potential costs, risks, and benefits of operationalizing business idea, but with gaps in logic, detail, or support	Does not project potential costs, risks, and benefits of operationalizing business idea	6.33
Work Breakdown Structure [MBA-690-03]	Meets “Proficient” criteria and work breakdown structure is exceptionally clear and contextualized	Develops logical, comprehensive work breakdown structure with at least three tasks and at least three associated subtasks	Develops work breakdown structure with at least three tasks and at least three associated subtasks, but with gaps in logic, accuracy, or detail	Does not develop work breakdown structure with at least three tasks and at least three associated subtasks	6.33
Narrative [MBA-690-03]	Meets “Proficient” criteria and narrative is exceptionally clear and contextualized	Provides a logical, comprehensive narrative, justifying each task and subtask in the work breakdown structure	Provides a narrative justifying each task and subtask in the work breakdown structure, but with gaps in logic, accuracy, or detail	Does not provide a narrative justifying each task and subtask in the work breakdown structure	6.33
Key Milestones [MBA-690-03]	Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates keen insight into meeting scope, time, and cost requirements of operations management projects	Accurately identifies key milestones, deliverables, and resource requirements associated with operationalizing business idea based on work breakdown structure and supported with explanation of how project will meet scopetime-cost objectives	Identifies key milestones, deliverables, and resource requirements associated with operationalizing business idea, but response is not based on work breakdown structure, is not supported with explanation of how project will meet scopetime-cost objectives, or has gaps in accuracy or detail	Does not identify key milestones, deliverables, and resource requirements associated with operationalizing business idea	6.33
Potential Obstacles [MBA-690-04]	Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates keen insight into project risks and impediments	Comprehensively assesses potential obstacles and impediments to meeting scopetime-cost objectives of project, supporting response with rationale	Assesses potential obstacles and impediments to meeting scope-time-cost objectives of project, but with gaps in accuracy, detail, or support	Does not assess potential obstacles and impediments to meeting scope-time-cost objectives of project	6.33
Risk Mitigation [MBA-690-04]	Meets “Proficient” criteria and strategies demonstrate nuanced understanding of obstacles, risks, and impediments to project	Determines appropriate risk mitigation strategies to address identified obstacles, impediments, and risks	Determines risk mitigation strategies, but not all strategies are appropriate for addressing identified obstacles, impediments, and risks	Does not determine risk mitigation strategies	6.33
Life Cycle [MBA-690-05]	Meets “Proficient” criteria and description demonstrates keen insight into business product or service life cycles	Clearly describes life cycle of business idea, focusing on future growth and decline	Describes life cycle of business idea, but without a focus on future growth and decline or with gaps in clarity or detail	Does not describe life cycle of business idea	6.33
Profit Generation [MBA-690-05]	Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates nuanced understanding of relationship between key measures of performance and business product or service life cycles	Comprehensively assesses profit generation and costsaving opportunities associated with business idea based on life cycle and supported with rationale	Assesses profit generation and cost-saving opportunities associated with business idea, but response is not based on life cycle or has gaps in accuracy, detail, or support	Does not assess profit generation and cost-saving opportunities associated with business idea	6.33
Phase-Out Plan [MBA-690-05]	Meets “Proficient” criteria and plan demonstrates nuanced understanding of relationship between key measures of performance and business product or service life cycles	Determines appropriate phaseout plan for business idea that ensures sustainable solution for future innovation and profit streams	Determines phase-out plan for business idea, but plan is not appropriate for ensuring sustainable solution for future innovation and profit streams	Does not determine phase-out plan for business idea	6.33
Articulation of Response	Submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization and is presented in a professional and easy-to-read format	Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization	Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas	Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas	5.05
				Total	100%

MBA 690 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric

MBA 690 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric