The Stage 4 case study project is due as shown in the schedule.  The assignment instructions are attached. The Case Study is posted under Course Content > Case Study and Walmart Example.  Use the Case Study to develop your assignment and refer to the Walmart Example to understand the concepts and what is required for the assignment. In Stage 4, you will prepare and present an Executive Briefing of your findings.  This briefing will be presented to Myra Morningstar, the owner of UMUC Haircuts, to explain and provide the justification for her to implement your technology solution.   For your executive briefing select the major components from each stage of the project to present.  For purposes of this exercise you do not need to focus on the cost of the proposed solution, but rather focus on convincing her that your proposed solution will improve the operation of UMUC Haircuts – specifically the business process you selected for improvement – and help her achieve the selected strategy for competitive advantage.         Resources:  Executive Briefing for UMUC Haircuts:  Presentation.  The table below explains how to incorporate information from the earlier stages into this Stage 4 Presentation. Category Details   Title Slide   ·       Introduce the project, including appropriate information about the ‘who, what, when and why’ Stage One   ·       Identify the strategy for competitive advantage you selected for UMUC Haircuts ·       Identify the  business process you selected to improve Stage Two   ·       Identify the Solution you chose to improve the process and help UMUC Haircuts with their strategy for competitive advantage. ·       Address how the IT solution you proposed will improve the process. ·       Give an overview of IT solution components, IT skills, and business resources needed to implement the solution.  ·       Explain the business benefits of the solution (benefits in addition to improving the process itself) and how the solution will help achieve the strategy for competitive advantage. Stage Three ·       Review the IT considerations you determined to be most important.  This would include any consideration that has a High importance ranking.  Select no more than five of the IT considerations that are the MOST important. Other ·       Identify at least three major risks associated with your proposed solution and what can be done to mitigate (prevent) them. ·       Summary/Conclusion and Closing.     Executive Briefing: ·       A Title on every slide ·       Consistent graphics throughout the presentation ·       Brief bullet points only on slides ·       Notes:  The bullet points in your presentation will be supported by relevant details in the Notes section of the slides, which contain the actual words you would say to Myra as you present each slide.   PowerPoint Resources How to Excel at Briefing Senior Executives: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:bOsAyAFilmAJ:http://www.melissalewis.com/articles/A-Briefings.pdf%2Bhttp://www.melissalewis.com/articles/A-Briefings.pdf&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us%3AIE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7GGLL_en&hl=en&ct=clnk   The Rule of Seven (scroll down to article):  http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:d1Ww-9teU0wJ:http://ezinearticles.com/%3FThe-Rule-of-Seven%26id%3D364277%2B%EF%82%A7+http://ezinearticles.com/%3FThe-Rule-of-Seven%26id%3D364277&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us%3AIE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7GGLL_en&hl=en&ct=clnk         Assignment:  UMUC Haircuts Stage 4:  Create a presentation that includes: I.             An executive briefing in PowerPoint covering the following topics: (each bullet below should be represented by at least one slide) ·       Provide a title slide to introduce the project, including appropriate information about the ‘who, what, when and why’ of the presentation ·       Identify the Strategy for Competitive Advantage and the Business Process to be Improved ·       Identify the IT Solution you chose to improve the process and help UMUC Haircuts with their strategy for competitive advantage ·       Give an overview of IT solution components, IT Skills/Services & Business/Management Resources (NOTE:  to obtain the most possible points in this area, a graphic representation of the solution is required – See Grading Rubric below) ·       State how the solution will improve the business process ·       Explain the business benefits of the solution (benefits in addition to improving the process itself) and how the solution will help achieve the strategy for competitive advantage ·       Review the IT considerations you determined to be most important in the Table in Stage 3.  This would include any consideration that you ranked with high importance.  Select up to 5 that you consider to be the MOST important.  Briefly explain: the impact on UMUC Haircuts – what the considerations are/mean, what they mean to the UMUC Haircuts business, and what needs to be done about them ·       Identify the major risks associated with your proposed solution and what should be done to mitigate those risks (prevent them from occurring). You should include at least 3 risks (business risks, technical risks, project risks, security risks or implementation risks, etc.) and corresponding mitigation strategies. ·       Summary/Conclusion and Closing:  Brief review and final sales pitch!   II.           Notes:  Details Section of Presentation ·       The bullet points in your presentation will be supported by relevant details in the Notes section of the slides, which contain the actual words you would say to Myra as you present each slide.  Since you cannot actually present the slides in person, the Notes will show what you would actually say.  This is an important part of your presentation.  If you were writing a paper, the content would be in the notes and the PowerPoint slides would be the outline.  ·       Presentations with limited or no “Notes” will receive much lower grades, because the bullets should not tell the whole story.   III.        Resources ·       While use of external resources (resources other than those provided in the classroom) is not required, your presentation may be strengthened by incorporating research.  Remember to correctly cite and reference any sources. ·       Any direct quotes should be indicated within the slide text with appropriate quotation marks and an in-text citation (however direct quotes should be short and used sparingly, if at all).  ·       Complete references for all sources should be included in the corresponding Notes section. Paraphrased material can just be referenced within the Notes section of the slides without an in-text citation on the slide.  This deviates from APA style but keeps the slides more readable.    Note:  Do not include your resources on a separate slide in the presentation.  They need to be included in the notes section of the slide to which they pertain.         Additional Instructions:   Formatting:  Stage 4 – Executive Briefing     ·       Content on your Slides should be double-spaced ·       Use bullet points – 6-8 words per line; 4-7 lines per slide; Font – preferably Arial, Verdana or Calibri (sans serif) size 18; ·       Your presentation format should be professional and use a business or technology theme to make it interesting in appearance to keep your audience’s attention. ·       Use graphics sparingly but to emphasize key points and add interest. Stay with the same theme of graphics throughout your presentation.  For example use all clip art, all photograph, etc. ·       Proofread and Spellcheck (including what you write in the Notes section)! ·       Read your Notes out loud to yourself to see that the presentation flows well from start to finish and that the words you read correspond to and complement what is shown on the slide without just repeating it. ·       Use the Grading Rubric to be sure you have covered everything. ·       Submit your presentation as a Microsoft PowerPoint document (or a presentation format that can be read using PowerPoint) with your last name first  in the filename:     Lastname_firstname_Stage _4   GRADING RUBRIC:   ISFM-300 Case Study, Stage 4 Rubric: Executive Briefing on Business Benefits and Considerations of Proposed Technology Solution       Criteria   90-100% Far Above Standards   80-89% Above Standards   70-79% Meets Standards   60-69% Below Standards   < 60% Well Below Standards     Possible Points   Title Slide With PowerPoint Theme   (1 slide)    5 Points   Includes a professionally presented Title Slide with appropriate information using a PowerPoint Theme      4 Points   Includes a Title Slide with appropriate information and  a PowerPoint Theme      3 Points   Includes a Title Slide properly formatted. 2 points   Includes a Title Slide, poorly or incom-pletely formatted. 0-1 Point   No title slide or theme is used in presentation. 5           Competitive Advantage and Business Process to Improve   (1 slide) 9-10 Points   Brief explanation of the strategy for competitive advantage and process to be improved is clearly presented and demonstrates understanding of the course vocabulary and concepts, sophisticated analysis and critical thinking. 8 Points   Brief explanation of the strategy for competitive advantage and process to be improved is clearly presented using course vocabulary and concepts. 7 Points   Brief explanation of the strategy for competitive advantage and process to be improved is presented using course vocabulary and concepts. 6 Points   Explanation is unclear; or may not adequately describe the process in the case study; may be lacking in demonstra-tion of under-standing of course vocabulary and concepts, analysis, and/or critical thinking. 0-5 Points   Little or no description of problem area or process to be improved is provided. 10           Description of Proposed Solution      (minimum 1 slide) 5 Points   Description of the proposed technical solution is clearly stated in a manner that captures the attention of the audience and sets the stage for the presentation. 4 points   Description of the technical solution sets the stage for the presentation. 3 Points   Description of the proposed technical solution is provided. 2 Points   Description of the proposed technical solution is not clearly presented and/or is not adequate to set the stage for presenta-tion. 0-1 Point   Little or no explanation of proposed solution provided. 5       Information Technology  Components, IT Skills & Business Resources   (minimum 1 slide) 9-10 Points   The technology components, IT skills and business resources are clearly explained, clearly presented and demonstrate understanding of the course vocabulary and concepts, sophisticated analysis and critical thinking. A professionally presented graphic of the solution is presented. 8 points   The technology components, IT skills and business resources are explained, clearly presented and demonstrate understanding of the course vocabulary and concepts, shows analysis and critical thinking. A well done graphic of the solution is presented. 7 points   The technology components, IT skills and business resources are explained. 6 points   Description of the technology compon-ents, IT skills and business resources are not clearly presented and/or not adequate.   0-5 points   Little or no explanation of technology components, IT skills and business resources. 10       How The Solution Improves the Process   (1 slide) 5 Points   Description of how the solution improves the process is clearly stated using course vocabulary and concepts in a manner that captures the attention of the audience and sets the stage for the presentation. 4 Points   Description of how the solution improves the process is clearly stated using course vocabulary and concepts. 3 Points   Description of   how the solution improves the process is provided. 2 Points   Description of how the solution improves the process is not clearly presented and/or is not adequate to set the stage for presenta-tion.     0-1 Point   Little or no explanation of how the solution improves the process is provided.  5         Business Benefits & Strategy for Competitive Advantage   ( 1 slide) 9-10 Points   Business Benefits and Strategy for Competitive Advantage are relevant to the business in the case study and the proposed solution.  Well supported and convincing explanation is provided on how solution supports the business and strategy for competitive advantage  using course vocabulary and concepts. 8 points   Business Benefits and Strategy for Competitive Advantages are relevant to the business in the case study and the proposed solution.  Explanation is provided on how solution supports the business operation or the strategy for competitive advantage using course vocabulary and concepts. 7 points   Business Benefits and Strategy for Competitive Advantages are explained and are somewhat relevant to the proposed solution.  Explanation is provided on how solution supports the business operation and the strategy for competitive advantage.   6 points   Only benefits or strategy is explained and somewhat relevant to the proposed solution. 0-5 points   Business benefits and strategy for competitive analysis are not explained; or little effort demonstrated 10         Business & Information Technology Consider-ations   (minimum 1 slide) 18-20 Points     The most important (no more than 5) IT considerations are explained clearly; the impact of each to the business in the case study and the explanation of what must be done clearly demonstrate a strong understanding of the course vocabulary, concepts, analysis and critical thinking. 16-17 points     The most important IT considerations (no more than 5) are listed and the impact of each to the business in the case study and what must be done demonstrate an understanding of the course vocabulary, concepts, analysis and critical thinking. 14-15 Points   The most important IT considera-tions (no more than 5) are listed, and the explanations of the impact to the business in the case study and explanations of what must be done are adequate. 12-13 Points   The most  important IT considera-tions are too numerous to indicate prioritiza-tion;  and/or explana-tions do not adequately describe each’s impact on the business in the case study and/or what must be done; may be lacking in demonstra-tion of under-standing of course vocabulary and concepts or analysis.   0-11 Points     Most important considerations are not provided; or explanations of the considerations are not provided; or little effort demonstrated. 20             Major Risks and Mitigation Strategies   (1 slide) 9-10 Points   At least 3 risks are identified and are clearly relevant to the business in the case study and the proposed solution.  Well supported explanation on how mitigation strategies address each risk, using course vocabulary and concepts. 8 Points   At least 3 risks are identified and are relevant to the business in the case study and the proposed solution. Good explanation is provided of how mitigation strategies address each risk, using course vocabulary and concepts. 7 Points   At least 3 risks are identified and are relevant to the business in the case study and the proposed solution. Mitigation strategies are provided and are relevant. 6 Points   Fewer than 3 risks may be identified, may not be relevant to the business in the case study and/or the proposed solution.  Not all risks have mitigation strategies. 0-5 Points   Few or no risks and mitigation strategies are provided. Little effort demonstrated. 10         Conclusion   (1 slide) 5 Points   Conclusion clearly provides an effective and meaningful closing to the presentation. 4 Points   Conclusion and closing are effective and relevant to the presentation. 3 Points   Conclusion and closing are relevant to the presentation. 2 Points   Conclusion/closing is somewhat effective and/or relevant to the presenta-tion. 0-1 Points   No conclusion/closing is provided or little effort is demonstrated. 5             Presentation Format 18-20 Points     Presentation is clear and concise, and supported by complete and appropriate notes. It reflects effective organization and creative design; correct structure of slides, uses course vocabulary and concepts, grammar, and spelling; presented in a professional format for an oral presentation; references are appropriately incorporated and cited using APA style as indicated in the instructions. 16-17 Points     Presentation is complete and clear, and supported by appropriate notes. It reflects effective organization and correct structure of slides, may have few grammar or spelling errors; presented in a professional format;  uses course vocabulary and concepts; references (if included) are appropriately incorporated and cited using APA style as indicated in the instructions. 14-15 Points   Presentation is complete and supported by notes. It includes correct structure of slides, may have some grammar and/or spelling errors;  lacks use of course vocabulary and concepts;  references (if included) are appropriately incorporated and cited using APA style as indicated in the instructions. 12-13 Points   Presenta-tion has few notes, and/or is not well organized, and/or contains several grammar and/or spelling errors; and/or does not follow APA style for references (if included) and citations as indicated in the instructions 0-11 Points     Presentation includes very few or no notes; is extremely poorly done and/or does not convey the information or shows little effort. 20           TOTAL Points Possible 100