BUSA 415 – Mini-Project 1
Instructions
· Please upload your MS-Word document to D2L.
· When submitting the milestone document please save the document using the following format (name BUSA 415 Fall 2025 MP1). For example, if I were submitting this document then the document should be saved as Anil Kumar BUSA 415 Fall 2025 MP1.
· All submissions are to be typed using Times New Roman, font size 12 and single-spaced.
· This mini project is due on September 21, 2025, by midnight.
Guidelines
· The mini-project submission should be well organized, logical, and clear.
· This is a professional document, and you need to make sure you have checked your document for spellings and grammar before submitting it.
· You need to answer all the questions.
· Make sure you read the questions carefully before answering them.
· Focus on providing insights and answering in your own words. Do not copy (or repeat) from the article.
Note: I’ll grade the mini-project within 10 working days and post the feedback on D2L. There is a five page limit for this assignment.
1.
We know that plagiarism is wrong and will result in an automatic fail. Plagiarism is to use another’s work and pretend that it is one’s own.
2.
We did not copy anyone’s work and did not share our document with any other group.
3.
We are aware of the university academic integrity policy.
Plagiarism declaration:
For this mini project, you will act as an analyst. Your task is to find a real-world news story and analyze the business processes behind it. You will choose a story that either highlights a societal problem that needs to be addressed or an opportunity to create something new for society. This project requires you to apply your understanding of systems thinking, information systems, business processes, stakeholders, project management and development methodologies (SDLC or Agile) to a real-world context.
INTRODUCTION
Find a newspaper story: Search for a news article from the past one year that has a clear business process aspect. The story should either describe a societal problem (e.g., healthcare shortages, climate impact, AI use for mental health etc.) or a new opportunity (e.g., smart city initiatives, technology trends etc.). Provide the link to the article.
Explain the “Why”: Explain why the problem or opportunity presented in the story is important to address. Provide at least two pieces of supporting data or statistics that highlight the significance of addressing this problem or opportunity.
Identify stakeholders & their perspectives: Using a systems thinking approach, identify at least four key stakeholders in the story’s business process. Categorize them as internal or external. For each stakeholder, describe their role and how their perspective on the process might differ from others.
PROJECT PLAN
Project management: Create a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and a Gantt chart for a project that would address the problem or seize the opportunity. Your WBS should be hierarchical and include a minimum of two levels. Your Gantt chart should include task durations and dependencies.
Development methodology: Suggest a suitable development methodology for this project (either SDLC or Agile). Justify your choice by explaining why the selected methodology is a better fit for the project’s characteristics (e.g., predictability of requirements, need for flexibility, project scale).
PROCESS & DATA
Process description: Explain the core business process you are addressing. Describe it in a step-by-step format, from start to finish. Identify where in this process information systems play a role.
LESSONS LEARNT
Reflect on your experiences working on the mini-project summarizing the key lessons. What was the most challenging part, and what did you discover about applying project management and methodologies to a real-world scenario?
Explain how you used AI tool(s) as a learning buddy to complete this mini-project. Provide at least two specific examples of how you used AI to help with your research, stakeholder identification, WBS design, or methodology selection. For instance, did you ask the AI to suggest WBS phases or selecting a methodology?
APPENDIX
A visual that explains the problem being addressed.
