For the final project, you will assist the small-business owner in the scenario below by suggesting options for improving the business's performance through the use of technology.

Sharpe Style Scenario

Owner Profile and Goals:

Mary Sharpe is the owner a retail clothing chain called Sharpe Style that has multiple retail locations in the United States. Her background is largely in business, and she has an MBA in Entrepreneurship. She is not a technology specialist. However, she wants to use technology to improve business performance and grow her organization. Mary has two main goals: The first is to expand into online sales as a means to increase revenue. Secondly, she is interested in an intelligent marketing system that is capable of helping customers make decisions about purchases through customer reviews and product details and also capable of suggesting related items or accessories. She is particularly worried about how she will keep track of inventory and keep her business and client data secure. She wants solutions that are inexpensive, easy to implement, and appropriate to the size of her business, while at the same time allowing room for further expansion in case her initial venture into online sales goes well.

Current IT Infrastructure at a Glance:

Sharpe Style has multiple retail locations. Each location has multiple registers for processing sales and customer orders. These locations have their own unique servers for storing information and recording transactions made at the registers. These local servers report to one central system that houses inventory and other data for the business. The servers are running Windows software. Sharpe Style also has a website that directs customers to the retail location, advertises sales, and provides coupons that customers can print. It does not contain interactive features or online ordering.

Your Role:

IT Business Analyst Intern

For this milestone assignment, you will be using what you have learned this week to examine how the system development life cycle applies to your final project scenario. You will be using the Milestone One section of the template to complete this assignment. Refer to the Sharpe Style scenario for details on the current state of the company and the business owner's goals.

Begin by restating the context of your assignment as an intern at Sharpe Style. Describe why your task is relevant given the role of information technology in business management.

Next, describe the system development life cycle approach and how it can help document and inform IT business decisions in this case. Use your Final Project Guidelines and Rubric document and the Final Project Template to help you. Discuss the appendices required for your business report and when they are developed in the life cycle. Include considerations on what information you were given in the scenario that applies to the life cycle and what you will need to research further.

Use the Milestone One section of the template and submit the template to your instructor for feedback and grading.