Corporate Connections - Student Projects

What Clients Are Saying

"The team went above and beyond on the project.  All members were actively engaged.  Great Job!"
- Project Sponsor, Walmart

“The students came up with a creative idea that my team can use as a foundation for future product capabilities in an area that we were not even exploring.”
- Greg Gorman, Program Director, IBM

"Kids at Hope serves over 500,000 students across the US and Canada. The project was to create an interactive and content rich website that supports students in their efforts to visualize their future by using the neuroscience concept of Time Traveler.  The Time Traveler guides students in seeing and planning for the future.  We are most grateful for this opportunity to advance our work and to have the support of the Eller MIS Solutions Center.  We are extremely pleased with the product.”
- Rick Miller, Founder and President of Kids at Hope

“The student team did very well. They adopted to a real world scenario where requirements needed to be further refined, gain a deeper insight on the business need and USE case, and work through numerous blocking factors, setbacks, and learning curves.   As an example, they continued to persevere with the data model, which required at least 5 major iterations.  Additionally they took the initiative to step up and own/drive a number of the tasks on their own, very much the way our internal consultants would manage a project. Overall it was a great result and significant business value for us!” Editors note: This project work is allowing Levenmentum enter into a new service practice worth millions in future revenue.
- Kevin Wheeler, Customer Engagement Manager and Doug Guilbeau, Co-Founder and President, Levementum, LLC

“The MIS688 students tackled two projects for us. One project was to build a database for tracking member feedback; the other was focused on our underwriting process and decision outcomes. We were so impressed with the UA program that we are ready for the next round of students to start.”
Jon Bruflat, AVP Enterprise Risk Management, Vantage West Credit Union

Ready to Engage?
Have Questions?
Contact Rob Owen for details 602.625.5499 robhowen@email.arizona.edu 

 

Since its inception in 1974 the MIS program at The University of Arizona has been at the forefront of applied research with its pioneering work in group decision making, big data management, artificial intelligence, and security among others.

Project Market Value

Master’s team projects are an incredible opportunity for firms and not-for-profits to engage a team of highly educated and experienced professionals that have been vetted by a top ranked academic program. Assuming a conservative hourly rate of $150, the market value of this team engagement is $90,000.  In effect, the client receives $90,000 of consulting work, plus an opportunity to observe five potential employees in action.

Student Team Profile

The faculty selected student teams typically have five (5) student members who are selected so that each team will have a balanced mix of skills and talents.  These students will have the benefit of a rigorous semester of core training in database, data communications and networking, enterprise data management, and business communications.  In addition, they may also be enrolled in courses in business intelligence, web analytics and business foundations. 

Students have outstanding academic records and substantial prior work experience consistent with admission to a MIS program.  Past experience and education, Eller education, and faculty mentoring result into formidable professional teams that can be leveraged to create significant value for the client.

Client Profile

The success of the projects depends on the active engagement and commitment of clients and the student teams during the project scope formation, execution, and closing.  Clients are asked to:

• Provide any data, resources, and background information necessary to complete the project
• Provide a primary contact person(s) that are available for regular status reports, consultation on issues that may arise, and
• Attend a final presentation of the project report

The Eller MIS department is committed to a “no surprises” engagement for the client and constructive feedback for the students. This mandates effective bilateral communication throughout the engagement.

Examples of Projects

• Technology selection and evaluation
• Feasibility studies and proof of concept for new products and services
• Data analytics projects related to demand estimation, diagnostic systems, market
• Competitive intelligence capture and analysis using advanced web crawlers and analytics
• Work flow analysis and design, process improvement
• Business intelligence/OLAP analysis and design
• Web-based portals and dashboards

View Detailed Project Examples here.

Project Deliverables

Projects last one semester (15 weeks). Although each project will have its own specific contracted deliverables, all projects will provide the client with a written report of approximately 60-100 pages that gives an overview of the project objectives, the analysis or work done, and the results. There is also a final formal presentation with accompanying slides at the end of the semester. 

Each project will be based on a signed project contract that will include the following:

• Project/Problem Statement
• Goal Statement
• In Scope
• Out of Scope
• Project Deliverables
• Project Timeline (not to exceed 15 weeks and coinciding with the semester dates)
• Communications Plan

Each student will have approximately 8 hours per week allocated towards the project. This implies a total of approximately 600 man-hours. Project contracts are finalized during the first two weeks of the semester.

Interested in finding out more? Contact either Robert Owen (robhowen@email.arizona.edu 602.625.5499) or Anji Siegel (asiegel@arizona.edu 520.626.2926) for details.