INFORMATION SYSTEMS
MILESTONE 0
FOLLOWUP REPORT --- A Special Alternative Assignment

You have been given a special assignment in conjunction with
Milestone 0.  The goals of this task are somewhat different from the
"Project Proposal" as described in the class "Information Packet."
Therefore you should follow the instructions here rather than those
in the "Information Packet."

The name that you have been given is the name for a client from a
project done in the Information Systems class during some past year.
In most cases the project was done during the immediately preceding
academic year, but sometimes the project was done earlier.
Therefore your primary responsibility is to determine the status of
that project.   The client should know the system by the name given
on the line labelled "SYSTEM:".

The name you have been given may include an email.  The reason you
were given that email is so that you may set up an appointment to talk
to the person (or whomever he or she designates).  Do NOT conduct
this entire investigation via email.


The general questions that you should consider include the following:

1. To what degree is the project used?

2. What are the major benefits the client sees with the project?

3. What are the difficulties or disadvantages of the project?

4. Has the project been required to adapt to changes in the
   client's computing environment, and if so how successful
   has this adaptation been?

5. Has the project been required to adapt to changes in the
   specifications, personnel, or general operating environment
   and, if so, how successful has this adaptation been?

6. Has the client made or caused to be made any changes or
   enhancements to the project?

7. Has the project caused any changes in the client's operations
   and procedures?

8. Are there any changes or enhancements necessary or contemplated
   and could these lead to further C445/6 projects?

Note that the relevance of several of these questions depends on the
answers to the others.  In particular, several of these questions
are meaningless if the answer to the first is "not at all".  In 
every case you should use your intelligence and find out the
relevant facts, not trivialities.

If the answer to the final question is "yes", you should proceed
to develop a new project proposal as in the "Information Packet."

If the client desires to participate in a DIFFERENT project, you
should still report the status of the previous project.  You should,
in addition, either write up the different project as a separate
proposal or report the new project to the instructors.

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MILESTONE 1

It is possible that your milestone 0 (Followup Report) is continued
into the milestone 1 (Feasibility Study) stage.  In this case, you
are investigating the feasibility for further work or re-work on an
Information Systems project that was done in a previous year.

IF this is the case, additional factors apply to you milestone 1
investigations:

1. Make sure you actually try the software from the preceding year.  
   If it is   not installed, find out whether the client has
   the final project code and other relevant material.

2. If the client says "it doesn't work," what does this mean?  
   Does the software actually fail?  Does it lack some essential
   functionality?  Is the UI beyond the client's capabilities?   ....   
   There is a huge range of possibilities here.

3. If specific deficiencies are suggested, investigate further.