E-Commerce Practicum
20-798, 20-799, 46-990
The E-commerce is the most important component of the MSEC degree program. It
consists of a two-minisemester team project to build a prototype E-commerce system to
address a real problem furnished by a corporate client. Students will be organized
into competing teams of appropriate size comprising individuals of varying backgrounds and
skill sets to cover both the business and technical aspects of the problem.
Students will be graded both on collectively-written team deliverables and a final
project report in which each individual student performs a post-mortem analysis of the
development process, describing the ways in which the delivered system meets or fails to
meet the client's goals and explaining any defects in the analysis, design, implementation
and testing phases.
Students will interview client personnel and potential system users, conduct market
research, transform client needs into a requirements document, develop a system design
that includes a human interface component and build a working prototype suitable for
testing by the client. It is intended that the system will be turned over to the
client for further development at the conclusion of the Practicum.
Because of the complexity of the Practicum, it is run strictly in accordance with a detailed schedule.
Prerequisites: Successful completion of four minisemesters of MSEC course work.