IT 261 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric

 IT 261 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric

Overview Imagine that you are a help desk service delivery supervisor (HDSDS) for TechWare, a national software company specializing in integrated financial systems. TechWare’s main product is an integrated financial systems software for medium- to large-size enterprises called FinWork. Its software package allows organizations to perform payroll, budgeting, accounting, accounts payable, accounts receivable, cashiering, and other bookkeeping and accounting functions.

The company has over 2,000 clients nationwide and provides fully hosted solutions for approximately 40% of its client base. As part of TechWare’s software support agreement with its clients, each organization is entitled to technical support for their financial software package (FinWorks). Recently, TechWare has received an increasing number of complaints from its clients regarding the level of support received from the help desk on technical issues. Hold times to speak to a technician are longer than before, and help desk requests are also taking longer in general to resolve.

The project is divided into four milestones and a final product, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold the learning process leading to a final product. The milestones will be submitted in Modules Three, Four, Five, and Six. The final product will be submitted in Module Seven. 

This project will address the following course outcomes: 

• Establish key performance indicators and acceptable levels of service for given information technology services 
• Prevent the degradation of service by establishing performance baselines and monitoring service levels 
• Recommend opportunities for information technology service improvement that ensure alignment to service-level agreements based on measurement of current service levels 
• Develop plans that will facilitate continuous improvement of information technology service and information technology professional communication
• Communicate key information technology concepts and solutions effectively to audiences with various levels of information technology experience 

Please utilize your text, course learning resources, the Shapiro Library databases, and other reputable sites on the internet as sources of information.

Preparation

1. Be sure to read this entire document as well as a more detailed description of the milestones in each respective module. 

2. Review the individual rubrics for specific requirements and expectations. 

3. Review the TechWare Service-Level Agreement document and the TechWare Service Metrics document. 

4. After reviewing the assignment requirements, be sure to consider all of the concepts learned throughout the course when preparing your work. Incorporate these concepts within your project.

Prompt 

Your key tasks as supervisor are to evaluate, baseline, and streamline the help desk service currently being provided to clients. You will be responsible for recommending opportunities for service-level improvement that balance the needs of the client with the realities of successfully addressing information technology (IT) issues. Ultimately, you will prepare a detailed presentation to communicate your recommendations to help desk staff, team leads, and management. 

Your presentation should address the following prompt: What recommendations would you make to improve the service level and decrease customer complaints? How did you come to these conclusions, and why is it important to address these issues? Remember, you are presenting to your fellow IT team members, and as a supervisor, it is important to inspire your team members to follow your lead. Please note that the course project intent is to introduce students to the ITSM process. For the intended learning and exposure to the course project topics, assumptions can be made and any such assumptions should be documented.

The completed presentation must include all of the critical elements, in order, listed below. 

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed: 

I. Introduction to your team: 

A. Given the client complaints, determine the specific issues that the help desk is facing, and explain how you came to these conclusions. 

B. What are some goals and objectives for a successful IT help desk? In other words, what service-level agreement standards or overall service goals need to be attained in order for the help desk to be considered successful? 

II. Describe what key performance indicators (KPI) will be used to measure and track help desk performance. 

III. Describe the importance of client satisfaction as a measure of IT help desk success, specifically for TechWare. 

IV. Explain how current help desk service-level baselines will be established. Specifically, how will you determine the current level of service and designate it as acceptable or not acceptable? A. What stakeholders and user needs should be taken into account? B. What is considered an acceptable level of service, and should this be static or dynamic? C. Explain the process you designed for measuring improvement of service. What methods could be used to measure improvements (surveys, call logs, etc.)? Why is measuring performance improvement useful? What is the reasoning behind your process? D. Explain how you plan on monitoring service levels to identify improvements or patterns. 

V. Recommend methods to improve IT service levels to comply with service-level agreements (SLA) provided to clients. 

A. Summarize the performance requirements as outlined by the clients’ service-level agreements. Why are these important for determining areas for improvement? 

B. Analyze the performance deficiencies and describe their underlying causes. Perform a comparison between current service levels and those described in the service-level agreement. 

C. What recommendations can you provide to improve and resolve the help desk service performance concerns? 

D. To what extent would the recommendations you had for improving and resolving help desk service performance concerns be enduring? In other words, would your recommendations ensure continuous improvement or static improvement, and why? What could you do to instill the concept of continuous improvement in the work environment?

 E. What recommendations can you propose to instill continuous communication improvement within the IT team? For example, how can you monitor or provide in-house training for your team members on ways to communicate with customers?

 

VI. Communication: A. Use illustrations, analogies, and other didactic tools to express the technology terms used in your presentation to ensure comprehension by non-technical management staff. Be sure to use the appropriate level of information technology jargon/language to ensure that audiences of varying levels of IT experience can comprehend your proposal to improve service. 

Milestones

Milestone One: Introduction 

In Module Three, using PowerPoint (or another tool such as Prezi), create the slides and speaker notes for the first section (critical element I) of the final project. 

Below are links that offer helpful tips and examples for developing your presentations: 

• Making PowerPoint Slides 
• Beyond Bullet Points: The Better Way to Use PowerPoint 
• Really Bad PowerPoint and How to Avoid It 

This milestone is graded separately with the Milestone One Rubric.

Milestone Two: Metrics

 In Module Four, using the PowerPoint file from Milestone One, create new slides and speaker notes for the second and third sections (critical elements II and III) of the final project. This milestone is graded separately with the Milestone Two Rubric.

Milestone Three: Current Level of Service In Module Five, using the PowerPoint file from Milestone Two, create new slides and speaker notes for the fourth section (critical element IV) of the final project. This milestone is graded separately with the Milestone Three Rubric.

Milestone Four: Service-Level Agreement In Module Six, using the PowerPoint file from Milestone Three, create new slides and speaker notes for the fifth section (critical element V) of the course project. This milestone is graded separately with the Milestone Four Rubric. 

Final Submission: ITSM PowerPoint Presentation In Module Seven, using feedback from prior milestones, consolidate and finalize your final project. Be sure to consider the communication requirements (critical element VI) and make appropriate updates to meet these requirements. This submission is graded with the Final Project Rubric. 

Deliverable

Milestone	Deliverables	Module Due	Grading
One	Introduction	Three	Graded separately; Milestone One Rubric
Two	Metrics	Four	Graded separately; Milestone Two Rubric
Three	Current Level of Service	Five	Graded separately; Milestone Three Rubric
Four	Service-Level Agreement	Six	Graded separately; Milestone Four Rubric
	Final Submission: ITSM PowerPoint Presentation	Seven	Graded separately; Milestone Four Rubric

Final Project Rubric 

Guidelines for Submission: You have two options for submission of this project: 

1. Submit a PowerPoint presentation (or use another tool such as Prezi): If you choose to submit a presentation, you must include speaker notes. These notes should be written as you would speak to your audience, and they will be used to assess your attention to each of the critical elements listed in the prompt. There are several links provided that will help you create an audience-appropriate presentation and notes. 

2. Presentation Recording: Your second option is to record yourself giving your presentation. You must make sure that each slide of your presentation is visible so that your instructor can view the presentation for evaluation. With this option, you must ensure that the instructor can hear you verbally present your project as well. You may record yourself standing in front of a room (it can even be an empty room) as you work your way through your project (requiring a webcam and recording software, as in this video example), or you can use tools such as Jing or Camtasia so that you can click through your presentation directly on your computer while capturing your verbal explanations. Using Jing or Camtasia will probably be the easier option for recording your presentation, as it will require less in terms of technology and resources.

Critical Elements	Exemplary (100%)	Proficient (85%)	Needs Improvement (55%)	Not Evident (0%)	Value
Key Issues	Meets “Proficient” criteria and provides specific detail and support regarding the source of the issue	Accurately determines the specific issues that the help desk is facing according to the scenario	Determines the specific issues that the help desk is facing, but with gaps in accuracy or lack of necessary detail around what the scenario indicates	Does not determine the specific issues that the help desk is facing	4
Two	Meets “Proficient” criteria, and established goals show keen insight into the needs of the scenario or provides particularly strong support for the established goals	Establishes and supports reasonable service goals for a successful IT help desk	Establishes goals, but not all goals are reasonable for a successful help desk, or does not provide relevant support for the importance of the established goals	Does not describe what key performance indicators will be used to measure and track help desk performance with adequate detail	6
Three	Meets “Proficient” criteria, and KPIs are particularly relevant given the scenario and can provide the basis for a full plan for improving IT service	Establishes KPIs based on the scenario and identified issues that could be logically used as the basis for improvement of service levels	Establishes KPIs, but not all KPIs are based on the scenario and identified issues, or not all KPIs could be logically used as the basis for service level improvement	Does not establish KPIs	6
Importance	Meets “Proficient” criteria, and support includes exceptional examples with scenariospecific context and professional or scholarly sources that highlight the organizational “big-picture” importance	Describes the importance of client satisfaction as a measure of IT help desk success with relevant support from scenario and external sources	Describes the importance of client satisfaction as a measure of IT help desk success, but lacks relevant support from scenario and external sources	Does not describe the importance of client satisfaction as a measure of IT help desk success	7
Stakeholders and User Needs	Meets “Proficient” criteria, and explanations show keen insight into the end users and stakeholders that must be considered, with specific examples from the scenario	Explains in detail the stakeholders and user needs that should be considered when determining acceptable levels of service	Explains the stakeholders and user needs that should be considered when determining acceptable levels of service, but lacks detail	Does not explain the stakeholders and user needs that should be considered when determining acceptable levels of service	6
Acceptable Level of Service	Meets “Proficient” criteria, and reasoning is driven by the scenario, so all conclusions fall within the appropriate context	Accurately identifies and explains the level and nature (static or dynamic) of acceptable service   monitoring with logical reasoning	Identifies and explains the level and nature of acceptable service monitoring, but with gaps in accuracy or logic	Does not identify and explain the level and nature of acceptable service monitoring with logical explanation	6
Measuring I Improvement	Meets “Proficient” criteria, and defense of process includes relevant and reliable resources and examples	Establishes and defends the process designed for improving service and the methods that could be used to measure improvements in accordance with established KPIs and acceptable service levels	Establishes and defends the process designed for improving service and the methods that could be used to measure improvements; however, process is not always in accordance with established KPIs and acceptable service levels	Does not establish and defend the process designed for improving service and the methods that could be used to measure improvements	4
Monitoring Service Levels	Meets “Proficient” criteria, and defense includes relevant and reliable resources and examples on how the process would prevent degradation	Establishes and defends a process for monitoring service levels that could prevent the degradation of service	Establishes and defends a process for monitoring service levels, but the process may not prevent the degradation of service	Does not establish and defend a process for monitoring service levels	7
Performance Requirements	Meets “Proficient” criteria and provides specific examples and support from SLA and the scenario	Accurately summarizes the performance requirements as outlined by the clients’ servicelevel agreements (SLAs) and the importance of those requirements for identifying areas for improvement	Summarizes the performance requirements as outlined by the clients’ service-level agreements (SLAs) and the importance of those requirements for identifying areas for improvement, but with gaps in accuracy	Does not summarize the performance requirements as outlined by the clients’ servicelevel agreements (SLAs) and the importance of those requirements for    identifying areas for improvement	4
Performance Deficiencies	Meets “Proficient” criteria, and determined deficiencies are supported with information from the scenario	Logically compares current service levels and those described in the service-level agreement to accurately determine areas of performance deficiency	Compares current service levels and those described in the service-level agreement to determine areas of performance deficiency, but with gaps in logic or accuracy	Does not compare current service levels and those described in the service-level agreement to determine areas of performance deficiency	6
Recommendations	Meets “Proficient” criteria and provides specific detail that links the recommendations to the scenario, current service levels, and supporting evidence to formulate logical conclusions	Provides recommendations to address identified deficiencies that could logically improve and resolve the help desk service performance concerns based on current service levels	Provides recommendations to address identified deficiencies based on current service levels, but does not address all of the deficiencies identified, or not all recommendations would logically improve and resolve the help desk service performance concerns	Does not provide recommendations to address identified deficiencies based on current service levels	8
Continuity of Recommendations	Meets “Proficient” criteria, and the accompanying support evidences how and why the recommendations are appropriate for the given scenario	Assesses the extent to which the previous recommendations would be enduring and alters recommendations to ensure continuous improvement of IT service within the scenario environment with support	Assesses the extent to which the previous recommendations would be enduring and alters recommendations, but alterations may not ensure continuous improvement, or there is insufficient support for the assessment of recommendation endurance	Does not assess the extent to which the previous recommendations would be enduring and does not alter the recommendation	8
Continuous Communication Improvement	Meets “Proficient” criteria and provides real-world evidence such as scholarly resources and common management strategies with specific examples	Recommends methods for continuous communication improvement within the IT team based on evidence of prior success and proven strategies	Recommends methods for continuous communication improvement within the IT team, but those methods are not based on prior success or proven strategies	Does not recommend methods for continuous communication improvement within the IT team	8
Illustrations, Analogies, and Jargon	Meets “Proficient” criteria, and communication acts as an example of proper communication within the IT service industry	Uses logical illustrations, analogies, and jargon appropriately to express the technology terms used in the presentation to ensure comprehension by nontechnical management staff	Uses logical illustrations, analogies, and jargon to express the technology terms used in the presentation, but not always appropriately given the non-technical staff   needs	Does not use logical illustrations, analogies, and jargon to express the technology terms used in the presentation	10
Articulation of Response	Submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization and is presented in a professional and easy-toread format	Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization	Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas	Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas	10

 

Rubric Annotations

Term	Definition/Additional Context
Provides specific detail and support	Such as specifying the result of customer complaints, what is related to communication issues, and how students came to the conclusion based on the scenario information
Particularly strong support	Support evidences both direct relevance to the scenario and insight into the deficiencies/areas of improvement of IT service industry, for example.
Particularly relevant KPIs	KPIs are strong enough to be used as the basis for the plan for improvement and the guidelines for measuring progress and align to the organizational mission and standards.
“Big-picture” importance	Not only are the description and support relevant for the particular scenario and IT service, but they also highlight the importance of service levels for the overall organization. Basically, students are able to view from the “management” perspective of IT service.