Read the whole assignment first because it may change how you approach your tasks. The goal of this assignment is to learn about IT's contribution to a firm and the firm's approach to IT. We have tried to weight each of the study groups with diverse talent and interest. Prior to starting your group project, you should identify your resources and individual strengths.

The end work product is a deliverable (a paper) and should be 8-10 pages excluding citations or spreadsheets, charts or graphs. Be as detailed as possible so as to demonstrate your groups' knowledge of the subject matter. The deliverable should be a report centering on your interview with an IT professional (keep reading) and detailing the issues important to your IT professional's firm.

Your first task will be to pick a firm. It may be a small-medium business or a large public enterprise. In many cases, a larger public firm may be preferable because of the availability of online research and data. For instance, may be easier to research a public firm on Mergent Online, Yahoo, etc.

The core of your assignment will be to interview one or more IT leaders at your target firm. This can be a CIO, director of IT, Vice President, etc. You may wish to "test the water" by sending emails, making phone calls or networking (ask someone with an affiliation with the firm) prior to making a commitment. [Note: SMU is off-limits-no interviewing our CIO or IT guys.]

You should augment the interview with research into the issues raised by your IT professional. Again, this is to demonstrate your group's grasp of the subject matter. In other words: prove that you know what you're writing about!

Part of the project, and the grade, will be how effectively your team leverages enterprise social media and project management tools to keep your project on track and communicate your progress. Your team needs to use its assigned Basecamp project for updates, tasks, deadlines, milestones, etc. We will be reviewing Basecamp to watch your progress and perhaps jump in and ask questions.

Here are the tasks and milestones (grading includes how well tasks are managed and milestones met):

Your group should have its first organizational meeting no later than Monday, February 19. At that time you should select a group chair and compare members' strengths. You should also discuss and leverage relationships (who you know) to find a candidate firm. Frequently, someone in your group will have a contact at a medium/large firm.

You may also resort to "cold calling" (researching and contacting firms) and everyone in the group should participate. If you end up with more than one interview prospect, you get bonus points for "sharing the wealth" with another group (making an introduction to another group) who might not be so lucky.

You should have decided on, run it by me for approval, and contacted your candidate's firm no later than Tuesday, March 6.

Your interview with your group's chosen IT professional should be conducted no later than Monday, April 2. All or part of your group may participate in the interview. Face-to-face interviews are always better than phone or email but your IT professional's schedule may conflict such that phone or email is the best option.

Finally, you write your paper. Tasks should be delegated such that everyone in the group has a hand in the project. Your deliverable should be uploaded into Canvas prior to that deadline.

Here are some topics of conversation to have with your IT professional:

These are what I refer to as "icebreakers". They are general topics that you can use to start a discussion with your IT professional. Do not, however, be constrained by these topics. Frequently, IT professionals will provide you with information you haven't solicited-and it's usually interesting. Again, research what they're telling you so that you understand it as a group.

Some of these topics we have yet to cover in class. It might be handy to read up on them prior to posing the questions (so you'll understand the answers).

What are the primary IT challenges facing the firm and how does the firm meet those challenges?

How does the firm view IT with respect to the firm's strategic plan? For instance, is IT viewed as a service provider, partner, a game-changer or something else?

Does the firm engage in IT outsourcing? What functions and processes are outsourced and how are (were) the decisions made to outsource these functions and processes?

Has the firm realized financial benefits from outsourcing and what are the trends (more/less beneficial as time moves on)? Have there been any "bumps in the road" where outsourcing didn't go as smoothly as expected?

Does the firm maintain its own datacenter(s)? Does it outsource for cloud technology (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS)? Which? What platforms? What functions? Explain.

Has the firm had an information security related incident? What was the impact on the firm? Was there publicity? How did the firm mitigate the damage? How have the firm's practices changed as a result of the incident?

Has the firm had a disaster or other incident that required activation of (parts of) a business continuity plan or a disaster recovery plan?

What was the impact on the firm? Was there publicity? How did the firm mitigate the damage? How have the firm's practices changed as a result of the incident?

Does the firm have a policy regarding social media and its employees? What is it? Does the firm monitor social media and/or respond to social media? How?

What is the firm's approach to "big data"? Does the firm engage in data analytics? What kind? Does the firm hire data scientists? What are the trends the firm is seeing in the area of data analytics?