Final Project Guidelines and Rubric Overview The final project for this course is a two-part project: an executive presentation and a technical proposal. The final project presents a detailed scenario regarding the merger of two insurance companies. For the project, the student is positioned as the chief information officer (CIO) and is asked to lead an initiative to merge the data infrastructures of both insurance companies into a single consolidated data warehouse. For the first part of the project, the student prepares an executive presentation to outline the project, its importance, and its scope. For the second part, the student prepares a technical proposal that outlines in greater detail how the data from both organizations will be unified into a data warehouse. The project is divided into three milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Two, Four, and Six. The Final Project will be submitted in two parts: Part I in Module Eight and Part II in Module Nine. In this assignment you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes: • • • • • Assess the effectiveness of data warehouses and database management systems in supporting specific business goals and decision making Design architectures for data warehouses that address business problems and increase business opportunity Construct plans for implementing a data warehouse that meet stakeholder needs and business specifications Analyze constraints and opportunities associated with integrating data from various systems into a data warehouse Develop strategies for ensuring data integrity, accuracy, and quality by employing appropriate data scrubbing and integration techniques Prompts Scenario Refer to the following scenario for the background and basis for your data warehouse design: Imagine you are the chief information officer (CIO) for Virtual World Insurance Company, an organization located in San Diego, California. It provides auto insurance coverage to more than 100,000 customers across the United States and currently has 100 employees. Virtual World Insurance Company has recently acquired Maxon Insurance Company, located in Ontario, Canada. Maxon Insurance Company has 10 employees and provides auto insurance to 10,000 customers in Canada. As a result of this merger, the chief executive officer (CEO) has asked you to look at a data warehouse as a viable solution for merging both information technology (IT) infrastructures. After doing research, you decide to create a data warehouse that will combine the customer information from both companies into one centralized location. Maxon Insurance Company does not have a relational database. In fact, the company currently stores its data in multiple data sources. As a result, Maxon Insurance Company’s data does not have any unique identifiers. Also, customers with multiple insurance policies have duplicate records. Each spreadsheet repeats the customer’s demographic information. Each insurance company utilizes a distinct customer relationship management (CRM) system. The CRM systems are used to keep a record of all customers and any communications that are sent to customers. The CRM systems tie into an in-house billing system that is used to bill for insurance premiums, insurance deductibles, and any other billable items. To manage organizational operations, each company uses a different enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. The ERP systems are used to manage human resources (hires, terminations, etc.), payroll, budgeting, accounting, and fixed assets. To streamline operations and reduce maintenance costs, all data systems (ERP, CRM, billing, etc.) will need to be consolidated into a data warehouse. This will avoid duplicated information and data redundancy. Prompt II: Technical Proposal Having successfully explained the value of designing a warehouse to facilitate the merger between Virtual World Insurance Company and Maxon Insurance, you are now responsible for creating the full-fledged proposal. Your proposal must include your architecture and a technical plan for implementation that highlights potential difficulties. It is important that you communicate in a manner that can be understood by executives, but can also be understood by members of your IT group to plan for future implementation. The challenge will be balancing audience-appropriate communication with adhering to the technical nature of your task. Remember to include all of the necessary aspects of a data warehouse and to attend to potential issues, both common aspects and those unique to your organization. Your technical proposal must attend to the following critical elements: I. Introduction: Provide an introduction that lays the groundwork for your proposal and tells the audience both what the point of the proposal is and how it will benefit the organizations. II. Data Warehouse Architecture: a) Architecture Design: Provide a clear visualization of the architecture, showing the important aspects that will allow for integration of organizational information. b) Architecture Defense: Explain the architecture that you have designed and the reasoning behind the choices you have made. What approach did you take in designing your architecture (for example, did you follow a top-down or bottom-up approach or did you incorporate strategies from multiple approaches)? How will your architecture address business problems? Be sure to provide support from relevant sources or examples. c) Database Management System (DBMS): Provide your justification and rationale for the DBMS that you select. Discuss the DBMS tools that you considered. Why was the DBMS you selected the best choice for the organization in terms of supporting decision making and aligning to the business goals? III. Implementation Plan: a) Timeline: Include a reasonable timeline for implementation. Considerations include: Is there sufficient time between milestones? What milestones and key deliverables will be required to complete the data warehouse from start to finish? b) Resources: What resources will be required for implementing the warehouse? Will you use your local IT department or an external vendor? What are the approximate costs for this project? Why are the resources you have identified necessary? Provide examples to support your claims. c) Training: Propose a logical training plan for employees. Be sure to specify the level of training needs for various positions and explain your reasoning. d) Security Policy: Craft a policy for maintaining security that meets organization needs. Considerations include, but are not limited to: Who will have access to the data warehouse? Who will you work with to determine access rights for users? Will employees have access to the records from both companies? IV. Data Integration and Scrubbing: a) Data Integrity: How will you combine date fields with various formats (i.e., MMDDYYYY vs. DDMMYYYY)? What other data issues will need to be addressed? b) Primary Key(s): What will you use as a unique identifier to combine the records? What primary keys, foreign keys, and indexes will you need to create? c) Customer Data: Once the data is merged into the data warehouse, how will you be able to differentiate customers from Virtual World Insurance Company and customers from Maxon Insurance Company? d) Duplicate Data: How will you eliminate duplicate records in the database to ensure data quality? Final Project Rubric II Guidelines for Submission: Your technical proposal should be logically organized with all of the key elements of a professional proposal. There are several types of proposals (click here for general guidelines for writing professional proposals), so you must work to cater yours to your specific content and audience. Your proposal must include a visual representation of your data warehouse architecture design, as well as properly cited sources where appropriate. Submission lengths will vary. Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Introduction Meets “Proficient” criteria and introduction is particularly well articulated with specific examples and logical identification of key business factors Data Warehouse Architecture: Design Proficient (90%) Needs Improvement (70%) Not Evident (0%) Value Submission includes an introduction that lays the groundwork for the proposal by articulating the business context and problems at hand Submission includes an introduction that lays the groundwork for the proposal, but lacks detail around the business context and problems at hand Submission does not include an introduction that lays the groundwork for the proposal 5 Meets “Proficient” criteria and is creatively represented or unique in comparison with other designs Warehouse design is organized and clear, and comprehensively indicates aspects of the organizational information that will be integrated Warehouse design is not clear, is not organized, or does not comprehensively indicate all necessary aspects of the organizational information that will be integrated Does not include a warehouse design 11.25 Data Warehouse Architecture: Architecture Defense Meets “Proficient” criteria and supports defense with realworld examples and scholarly sources Logically defends architecture design choices and approach with examples and relevant sources Provides reasoning behind architecture design choices and approach, but does not defend with examples and relevant sources or defense overlooks relevant factors Does not provide reasoning behind architecture design choices and approach 11.25 Data Warehouse Architecture: Database Management System (DBMS) Meets “Proficient” criteria and defense includes relevant examples and sources that provide particularly strong support Defends the selection of DBMS tools in terms of effectively meeting organizational needs with logical arguments and sources of support Defends the selection of DBMS tools, but not in terms of organizational needs or without logical argument or sources for support Does not defend the selection of DBMS tools 22.5 Implementation Plan: Timeline Meets “Proficient” criteria and timeline detail is focused around the key deliverables required to complete the warehouse or is exceptionally well defined in terms of milestone needs Crafts a reasonable timeline for implementation Crafts a timeline, but the timeline is not reasonable Does not craft a timeline 5.62 Implementation Plan: Resources Meets “Proficient” criteria and specific examples pertain to the individual organization Identification of necessary resources is defended with specific examples and relevant explanations Identification of necessary resources is defended, but lacks detail or explanations and examples are not relevant Does not defend identification of necessary resources 5.62 Implementation Plan: Training Meets “Proficient” criteria and training plan is catered to both organizations or is exceptionally well planned Proposes a logical training plan for implementation that includes the reasoning behind the level of training needs for various positions Proposes a training plan, but lacks detail around level of training needed or plan is not entirely logical for implementation Does not propose a training plan 5.62 Implementation Plan: Security Policy Meets “Proficient” criteria and policy meets organizational needs to the point of being ready for implementation Submission includes a security policy that considers permission levels and access rights, and meets organizational needs Submission includes a security policy that considers permission levels and access rights, but the policy does not meet organizational needs Submission does not include a security policy that considers permission levels and access 5.62 Data Integration and Scrubbing: Data Integrity Meets “Proficient” criteria and methods described are the best methods for ensuring data integrity for the given scenario and specific issue Articulates the correct methods for combining data fields with various formats to ensure data is not lost or compromised Articulates methods for combining data fields with various formats, but methods are not correct for ensuring data is not lost or compromised Does not articulate methods for combining data fields with various formats 5.63 Data Integration and Scrubbing: Primary Keys Meets “Proficient” criteria and identified keys and indexes are the most appropriate for each of their designated purposes within the data warehouse Articulates appropriate primary keys, foreign keys, and indexes for creation that will ensure a clear and accurate warehouse Articulates primary keys, foreign keys, and indexes necessary, but not all will ensure a clear and accurate warehouse Does not articulate primary keys, foreign keys, and indexes necessary 5.63 Data Integration and Scrubbing: Customer Data Meets “Proficient” criteria and articulated methods are the most appropriate given the accompanying explanation, accompanying scenario, and integration issues that have been identified in the proposal Articulates plausible methods for differentiating customer data from each company after data is merged Articulates methods for differentiating customer data from each company after data is merged, but not all methods are plausible, or necessary detail is left out of explanation Does not articulate methods for differentiating between customer data from each company after data is merged 5.63 Data Integration and Scrubbing: Duplicate Data Meets “Proficient” criteria and identified strategies are the most appropriate given the accompanying explanation, accompanying scenario, and integration issues that have been identified in the proposal Articulates valid, plausible strategies for eliminating duplicate records and ensuring data quality and accuracy Articulates strategies for eliminating duplicate records and ensuring data quality and accuracy, but not all strategies are valid or plausible Does not articulate strategies for eliminating duplicate records to ensure data quality and accuracy 5.63 Articulation of Response Submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization, and is presented in a professional and easytoread 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 Earned Total 5 100% Rubric Annotations Term Defends architecture choices and approach Context for Instructor/Definition design Additional context for consideration (in terms of the approach aspect of this critical element): Will this be a comparison of the different approaches? Top down vs. bottom up? Student chooses one and follows it through? Reasonable The timeline points of interest are spaced in a realistic manner without unnecessary lapse time. Ready for implementation Includes sufficient detail and covers necessary considerations for immediate implementation in the organizations listed. There are no obvious barriers to immediate implementation of the policy for security (once the warehouse is constructed, of course). Best methods Most appropriate for each given integration problem. For example, the proposed method for solving the issue of MMDDYYYY versus DDMMYYYY is not only a method that will work, but also is the most straightforward and appropriate method for that specific issue. Designated purposes At minimum, each primary key (for example) accurately and succinctly acts as the unique identifier for whatever it is representing. Most appropriate Not only are all of the methods realistic and possible for differentiating customer data, but the methods discussed fit within the scenario provided, are fully explained and defended as the most appropriate given any restraints or issues that have been identified, or are the most appropriate given the expertise of the subject matter expert who is evaluating the submission (the instructor). 
Purchase answer to see full attachment