The Capstone Experience

1. College of Computing SciencesProgress Report onSenior Project Capstone Courses:Prepared byOsama EljabiriDirector of Senior Project Capstone CoursesPresented to the OWASP meeting Jan 30th, 2006

2. The Capstone Experience • Started in Fall 2002 • Offers a very unique real world educational experience to NJIT students. • Mandates that all seniors majoring in CS, IS and IT complete a semester-long project.  • Evolved recently to offer access to university-wide human resources including students from : • Five university colleges • Graduate students • Senior high school students

3. The Capstone Experience • Working in teams of four to six • Interdisciplinary student teams analyze, design and implement software and other IT-driven solutions in collaboration with project stakeholders.  • In addition to in-class training, market-driven capstone Open University sessions, in-class training and evolutionary presentation sessions, each student is expected to spend approximately nine hours a week on the project, and many of them travel to their sponsor companies.

4. The Capstone Experience • The projects deal with different business problems and applications, from entertainment, finance, health care, education and public sector needs.  • One recurring participant, the CIT Group, a Fortune 500 commercial and consumer finance company, has saved  "hundreds of thousands of dollars" by having NJIT students design and implement a database which CIT uses to comply with rigorous auditing rules mandated under a new federal law.     • Best of all the service is currently provided FREE to our corporate sponsors, though if you are pleased with the results we ask you to consider making a donation to NJIT.   • We also offer other modes and models for more demanding and complex projects.  

5. The Capstone Experience • If you have a non mission-critical project you have been thinking about doing, but currently do not have either the budget or time to undertake it, why not let NJIT's Capstone Program do it for you.   • Proposals for our summer and fall 2006 semester are due by April 15th, 2006 as our priority deadline. • Please send an email to oe2@njit.edu (Osama Eljabiri) to request an invitation email that has a link to our online proposal form.

6. Why makes our capstone experience unique? • Students view sponsors as educators and sponsors view students as partners. • We provide a full team-based problem solving package not a number of interns. • True multidisciplinary team formation • Adaptive & agile problem solving process through evolutionary prototyping (sprints/scrum/FDD) • High degree of selectivity in projects, sponsors, project managers and team formation. • Emphasis on project managers and leadership training. • Collaborative quantitative evaluation of students progress • Open university: our free parallel college to train students on market driven skills • Our unique support team : alumni, sponsors, faculty, administrators, legal advisors, current students, future students, business communities, government agencies, etc. • Fast career development track • Except for legal documents, we are completely paperless. • We are a learning organization. We improve every semester • We adapt to clients timeframes and human resources needs,

7. Projects Success RateRated by Sponsors • In the last 70 projects we did: • 81% were rated between good and excellent • 40% were rated as outstanding • 9 projects were rated average and only 4 were below average

8. The Triple Win Multi-Stakeholder Satisfaction Triangle

9. The First WinnerStudents • Real world exposure and problem solving • Interaction with professional stakeholders • New skills mastered and experience acquired . • Effective usage of education and backgrounds • Substantial value to their resumes

10. The Second Winner Industry • Cost effective : Students achieve solutions to business problems free of charge • Productive : Students provide solutions in a short time frame using rapid application development • Adaptive and Flexible : Students can do projects from 3-12 credits project (one to four semester projects) • Effective : Teams combined from 4 majors will use their 4 years of college education plus experience and university resources in tackling problems • Comprehensive : Students will provide a complete documentation for the full development process from problem identification to final implementation • Measurable and Tangible : Project progress can be easily assessed via biweekly progress reports , biweekly prototypes , biweekly presentations , testing methods and statistical analysis • Result-Driven : Through the sponsor evaluation form , no grade is given without user acceptance and customer satisfaction

11. The Second WinnerOther Industry Benefits • Creates an opportunity for evaluating potential hires • Builds strong ties with the university and faculty that may result into research and consulting benefits to the sponsor in fields of interest. • Makes the sponsor more visible on and off-campus. • Involves sponsor in supporting educational efforts for future specialists in area of interest to him.

12. The Third Winner College and University • Added-value for all academic courses • Students become as school performance indicators wherever they go. • Endless windows of opportunities for research , support and placement for graduates . • The entire school system becomes more attractive which boosts enrollment rates.

13. Example Sponsors For Spring 2006

15. Added-value Community Benefits • Sposnor-Sposnosr Collaboration • Open-house Participation • Collaboration across teams and across semesters • Non-Profit and public service projects • NJIT departments projects • Commercialization of students ideas • Students published empirical research • EDC bi-directional support

16. New Statistics • Number of completed projects will reach at least [250] full-scale projects • A minimum of [300] products or sub-projects carried out by more than 300 teams after 10 semesters • This is an average of 30 products per semester plus CIS490 first-phase teams. • Many of these projects have had multi-phases and some have involved multi-teams • Up to 6 semesters /phases for some large-scale projects. up to 4 teams in some extremely complex or demanding industry-projects . • Key sponsors offer more than one project every semester (CIT provided 14 projects in Spring 2004 alone and Cyberextruder offered 9 projects in Spring 2003 ) • At least 1500 students have participated in the capstone program since Fall 2002 from CS , IS , IT and HCI.

17. More Facts • Sponsors and projects diversity demonstrate a broad array of interest Examples : entertainment , finance , health , education , public sector entrepreneurships • Geographical Distribution :These projects came from all round NJ (North , Central and South) , NY or PA . We even had a project from Boston , MA . This expands our reach beyond short-distance businesses. • A number of companies have offered our students excellent support for their careers . Examples :CIT, Saint Clair health system , Edu-Global , Cyberextruder , All-fine-dining , IMS health Support forms : Full time employment , part-time employment , internships , rewards , financial support , research support , recommendation letters , direct support calls , software purchase , company resources , certified training , after graduation training.

18. Well-Defined Plan • Clear Agenda • Standardized • Process • Evaluation • Continuous • Metrics-Based • Collaborative Leadership Project Managers Methods And Strategies • Multi-dimensional Collaboration • JAD • Value-Based • Long -Term Interdisciplinary Team structure Roles and Backgrounds • Motivation • Online Feedback • Competitive environment • Presentations • Live Mentorship Help/Support Facilitating Resources • Productivity • Prototyping • Iterative Development • RAD

20. Testimonials

21. Testimonials “We have 50 NJIT student interns who are studying information technology and computer science, working on eight projects. Having them work for us has allowed us to jump ahead in our work.” Larry Gardner CEO and Founder of Cyberextruder

22. Testimonials This was a huge project and required much attention to detail. The team asked the right questions and we very helpful to Arc of Monmouth staff in deciphering what needed to be done. They provided many useful suggestions. Sarah Logan Office Manager The Arc of Monmouth

23. Testimonials I was so impressed with the whole process. I am amazed at how talented, professional and responsive the team was to the project. The group of students that worked on this project quickly understood the scope and was able to deliver the requested tool within a very short period of time. The entire experience was one that I am going to recommend to other managers at IMS. Marilyn Mahon Group Manager, Quality Assurance IMS Health 100 Campus Road Totowa, NJ 07512 USA

24. Testimonials “If I had to pay a consultant to do the work that the NJIT students did for CIT as part of the Capstone Program it would have cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars” “The program gives NJIT students a chance to integrate real world experience into their academic experience, which is invaluable to them and to us.” Harold Olmstead Vice president of Systems and Technology Services CIT

25. Testimonials “The solution for Cocomats created by the group reflected a keen assessment of both the weaknesses of Cocomats and the needs of the Office of Constituent relations “ Ian Thomas Brennan New Jersey Office of the Governor, Office of Constituent Relations Aide to the Governor

26. Testimonials This group was very prompt in implementing suggestions, very professional and timely. Based on the scope of work initially developed, we are very pleased with the results. Juan Rosario Newark Housing Authority Acting I.T. Administrator

27. Testimonials This group hung in there and were able to work around these problems and move steadfastly through the project. This group communicated well and worked very efficiently. They were always on time for the meetings and handled themselves in a very professional manner. I was very impressed with the work that they did. They fulfilled all of our needs and produced a product that is above and beyond what we expected. Overall all I was pleased and would look forward to participating in upcoming projects. Jerri Drakes CEO The Workstation Inc.

28. Testimonials Very well diverse group of dynamic individuals with many skills equipped to create a website, write a business plan, business marketing, hard working, and capable of delivering a complete product. Henri Boll President Go2Museum.com Inc

29. Testimonials As a whole the team preformed extremely well. The direction given by TMS was an outline. The team was able to understand what we were looking for and implement our needs into the finished program. Sean P McShane President Transportation Made Simple

30. Testimonials Jeremy (Jeremy Dela Rosa) has been very accommodating regarding my extremely busy schedule. He has demonstrated a strong ability to learn and adjust throughout this experience. Jeremy performed a terrific job in coordinating the efforts of the team, a task that is very difficult for any leader. He was also able to work well as a liaison between me and the team, ensuring that my requests were communicated properly to all the members. Additionally, as project manager, he was involved in nearly every aspect of the project, and demonstrated a solid understanding of every one of the team’s Jason Huang Project Leader Honeywell International Inc

31. Senior Project CapstoneCourseWhat is new? New Strategies • Adaptable business Modes and Models • Four new tracks : - Entrepreneurship track (Restructuring) - Research Track - Education Track - Public Sector (Enhancement) • Exploratory and Evolutionary Prototyping • Pioneers groups

32. New CRM • Extensive Sponsor Engagement (in breadth and depth) • Strategic alliances with key Sponsors • Capstone Advising Community • Showcase Every Semester • New marketing channels • Former Students Channel • Media Channel • Sponsor-Sponsor Channel

33. New Resources & Educational Benefits • Collaborative training for students • Certified Training for Students (Microsoft, Six Sigma) • Fast Career Development for Students • Multi-Grant Support (proposal phase)

34. Our Sponsors

35. Sponsors Statistics

36. List of some of our External Sponsors -1- • Large Companies • McKesson ,Systems & Technology Solutions, Revenue Cycle Mgmt. Services, Somerset, NJ 08873 • CIT @ Livingston , NJ • Scholastic Books Inc., 26 Glen Oaks Ct., Clifton, NJ 07012 • AVIS car rental • Recent contacts with UPS and PSE&G for Summer and Fall 2003 projects • Medium-Size Companies • Professional Resources Corporation (PRC) ,8 Twin Lakes Dr Manalapan, NJ 07726 . • Green Roof Suites , 45 River Road, Suite-301, Flemington, NJ 08822 • PF Laboratories Inc., Damon G. Douglas CO.,700 Union Blvd., Totowa, NJ 07512 • Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs • Wendy’sFast Food Restaurants (one branch) , 59 Central Avenue , Union , NJ • MGR Enterprises, 421 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001 • Heights Service Station, Inc., 70 Glen Ave., Midland Park, NJ 07432 • “ Intellinetix “ Inc.,35 Parchment Drive New Hope, PA 18938  • Duet Designer Consignment Boutiqu, 79 S. Livingston Ave, Livingston, NJ 07039 • Pomarico Pharmacy, 239 Old Bergen Road, Jersey city,NJ • A-1 Construction Services, Inc. , 33 Sackett St., Jersey City ,  NJ 07304 . • CyberExtruder • DocuMat

37. List of some of our External Sponsors -2- • Educational Institutions • Newark Public Library ,(973)-733-3607 • Rutgers University –New Brunswick, Cook College, Department of Food Science • Essex County College 303 university ave (IT department) Newark, 07102, NJ • Torah Academy of Bergen County ,1600 Queen Anne Road, Teaneck, NJ 07666. • Global Education Mission ,2184 Kennedy ,Boulevard, Jersey City,  NJ  07305 • Federal Organizations • NSF (National Science Foundation) • NASA • National Guard

43. Thank You