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Guidelines in Preparing The Information Systems Capstone Project
Guidelines in Preparing The Information Systems Capstone Project
Project
Introduction
This document is designed to help you get started with your Information Systems
Application Project, one of the final requirements for you to earn your Master of
Information Systems at UPOU. It is not exhaustive, as you can see, and in fact is a
work-in-progress designed to grow and respond to your needs as you undertake IS 295.
FICS also has a general style guide for formatting proposals that can be found in
Appendix D.
To better prepare you for the work ahead, you first have to understand what graduate-
level research is all about.
Now that you have that in mind, you are now ready to move on.
IS 295 is divided into 2 major undertakings: 295a and 295b. In 295a you are expected
to come up with a project proposal that needs to be approved by your adviser and the
Faculty of Information of Communication Studies before any subsequent work is
started. Approval of your proposal does not necessarily mean that your work already is
an original contribution to knowledge as described above. You are just halfway through,
and any approval at this point means that your initial work shows innovative ideas and
promise that may lead to that desired significant and original contribution.
IS 295b is where refinements to your original idea are done and where the actual
information systems development takes place. This is the other half of the entire course
and therefore the amount of time, energy, and other resources you need to get the job
done is also roughly half the total amount of time required. The expected output is a
bug-free1 Information System that will be stored in the open-source repository of
researches and academic work of UP Open University.
The following section details the prescribed content of your project proposal. The outline
is exhaustive insofar as the entire IS project is concerned, and it is expected that the
same will be seen in your submitted proposal.
1
Presumption of Innocence also holds true in Computer Science and stated in the (recursive) corollary: Any
software released is bug-free unless proven otherwise, in the latter case, appropriate corrections need to be done
to ensure that the software now becomes bug-free
Project Proposal2
2
This is the proposed standard to be evaluated by the Faculty of Information and Communications Studies of the
University of the Philippines – Open University.
Your project proposal should be representative of your ideas and the project of you are
proposing. The following guidelines specify what you are to include in your proposal and
suggest how you might present them.
Cover Page
Disclaimer
The following disclaimer should appear on the page following the cover:
Acceptance Sheet
• Introductory paragraph
This project proposal entitled “<Insert the Title of the Proposed Project Here.>”
submitted to the Faculty of Information and Communication Studies, University of
the Philippines – Open University, Los Baños, Laguna in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree Master of Information Systems is hereby accepted.
• Signature of Adviser
• Date
• Signature of the Dean
• Date
Abstract
This section gives an overall view of your project in not more than 300 words. The
contents must mention the following:
This chapter should be able to elaborate on the following sections in not more than 900
words:
This chapter should be able to present the following in not more than 600 words:
This chapter should be able to present the following in not more than 900 words:
A. Theoretical Framework
1. Information Systems theories you intend to use
2. Systems design principles you intend to use. These include relevant process
and data models
B. Rationale for the framework
1. How it fits the problem domain and goes beyond the existing alternatives
C. Technologies you plan to consider or use
1. Why these technologies are appropriate
2. What they add to the most promising existing alternative
This chapter should contain the following sufficient detail within 1200 words:
A. Concept
B. Methods
1. Brief description of the methods you will use to develop the project. Include all
important steps you have taken and plan to take such as:
a. Design studies
b. Review of existing systems
c. Literature review
d. Assessment of existing alternatives
e. Production of prototypes3
f. Tryouts of prototypes with users
g. Development of assessment instruments
h. Analysis of assessment data
i. Revision of prototypes
j. Preparation of final project documentation/report
3
May be taken in the context of any preliminary design / proof of concept that is intended to orient the
user/clientele of what outputs are expected from the project.
V. References
This chapter contains the list of articles, books, and websites that will be useful to this
project.
VI. Appendices
This chapter contains any material that impedes the smooth development of your
presentation, but which is important to justify the initiation and the subsequent results of
the project.
This is scientific work and therefore all writing involved must follow a “dissertation-style”
of writing. Following are some general tips that may be of help to you:
• Always keep the reader's background in mind (Chinneck, 1999). Put in mind the
expected audience and stakeholders of your project. The expected ones are your
professors, and your target clientele. Once you have the mental picture, imagine
that you are explaining your ideas directly to that person or to the group.
• Dissertation-style writing is not designed to be entertaining, nor is it a story. Avoid
flowery rhetoric and/or lengthy philosophical discourses. Go straight to the point.
• Writing must be clear and unambiguous.
• Write using the third person's point of view. Only in the preface (if any) is a first
person's point of view allowed.
• Terms must be consistent throughout the document. Do not use two or more
terms to refer to the same idea. You will end up confusing which would result to
outright rejection of your proposal.
• Information presented in figures/tables/graphs must have preceding introductory
paragraphs. Following the figure/table/graph, make sure that you discuss it.
• Figures/Tables/Graphs where no discussions can be made, or the inclusion of
which may derail the flow of discussion must be relocated to another section or
may be placed in the Appendices.
• Terse sentences are encouraged rather than long expository once.
• Avoid phrases like “Clearly, this is the case…”, “Obviously, it follows that...”, et
cetera which imply that if the readers do not understand, then they must be
stupid (Paraphrased from Chinneck, 1999).
• Stay away from getting your opinions on paper. Make sure that literature or the
solution you have presented should substantiate whatever claims you make.
• Logical organizations. The structure and flow of your manuscript is very
important. Remember, each paragraph begins with a topic sentence and the
entire content of the paragraph must relate to this topic. Paragraphs must follow
a logical sequence.
• Before submitting your work, in any form, to your adviser for perusal or for
approval, make sure that it has been edited for any grammatical, spelling, and
punctuation errors, or any composition-related shortcomings. You may also
subject it to professional scrutiny by somebody who is from the ICT industry to
check for proper word/term usage.
The chapters of the project proposal constitute the first chapters of the final project
documentation. Insert an Acknowledgment page before the Abstract and a Table of
Contents after the Abstract.
Rewrite the chapters in your proposal from future tense to past tense and insert the
following chapters before References.
Include any additional references that helped you complete the project to your existing
list. (You may also do some editing of your document to streamline the presentation of
ideas and substantiate the weaker spots.)
Journal Format
Follow the SigConf format provided by ACM. You can download it at the resources
section of the MIS website.
Assessment Guidelines
The following guidelines are adopted from the General Guidelines and Dissertation
Guidelines to Masters Dissertation of the University of Skovde, Sweden.
(http://www.ida.his.se/ida/kurser/dissertation/)
• There must be evidence of the student's ability to relate the subject matter of the
Information Systems Project to the existing body of knowledge in the field;
• There must be evidence that the student has undertaken an individual systematic
research on
• Information Systems theories and other relevant Information and
Communications
• Technologies leading to a working Information System that addresses the
identified organizational gaps;
• There must be evidence that the student has performed an individual formal
systems analysis and design, and subsequent development of a computerized
Information System.
• There must be a satisfactory level of literary presentation.
1. Understanding
• The extent to which the basic issues and arguments relating to a topic have
been grasped and placed in the general context of the chosen field.
• The field should be clearly within the areas covered by the Master of
Information Systems program, or in some clearly defined overlap.
• Selection of appropriate Information and Communications Technologies that
support the identified solutions to identified organizational gaps or problem
areas.
2. Coverage
• Inclusion of the appropriate material and exclusion of the irrelevant material
so that:
o The research context of the project is clearly located;
o Previous problems and solutions to the problems raised are adequately
described at a detailed as well as general level.
3. Organization
• Conformance to the prescribed documentation format.
• Referencing which makes clear which elements are attributable to the work of
others and which are attributable to the student.
4. Reading Base
• Evidence of focused reading.
• Evidence of exhaustive background study leading to project initiation.
5. Use of English
• Good, clear, accurate English expression.
6. Judgment
• Capacity to arrive at reasoned and principled conclusions, both when
analyzing the problem and when presenting solutions.
7. Synthesis
• The capacity to bring together a variety of ideas and research and
development outputs to form them into a coherent research and development
project manuscript.
8. Insight
• The capacity to make meaningful and novel contributions based on
information gathered.
• The capacity to enter and take on board the point of view of other people as
well as generate hypothetical points of view.
9. Critical Analysis
• The capacity to exercise judgment and insight to arrive at independent,
sustainable solutions.
10. Software System Accuracy
• The software system has matched the needs of the intended users/clientele
reflected in the preliminary analysis and system design.
• The software system has outstanding passing results in
unit/integration/systems tests.
11. Software System Reliability
• The software system produced must work the first time every time within a
guaranteed reliability period and within the prescribed operating environment.
• Disaster control and recovery procedures, and underlying mechanisms must
be incorporated in the software system design and associated
documentation.
The results of the Master's Project are public domain. This means that anyone who
requests to see the project results, in general, will be allowed to do so. This can be a
problem for a student who completes a Master's Project for an organization that wishes
the results to remain proprietary.
If you happen to fall into the category just described, it is encouraged to discuss and
settle the issue prior to committing to the project. If the project results will contain
software or concepts that an organization will claim as proprietary, then the project is
not an acceptable Master's Project. Any settlements facilitating the continuance of the
project should be reflected in an official document and included in the appendices.
References
Keoford, P.E.
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, U.S.A.: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Librero, F., Suva, M.M., and Tirol, M.S.C. (2002). Dev Com 204: Communication
Research and Evaluation. University of the Philippines – Open University.