WRITING & PROJECTS
Below is a collection of papers, case studies or projects completed during pursuit of my masters degree.
The content is summarized and you can click on the "read more" link to open and read any of the documents.
SYSTEMS ENGINEERING CASE STUDY:
MARS ONE PROGRAM - OCTOBER 2013
A review of a real-world system to research and evaluate as a systems engineering case study. The studies the Mars One Program, which has developed an aggressive plan to launch four humans into space with the mission of establishing a human settlement on Mars in 2025 utilizing existing technologies.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND SYSTEMS ENGINEERING:
THE RELATIONSHIP OF COMPETENCY AND COMPLEXITY - DECEMBER 2013
Project or Program Managers and Systems Engineers have distinct roles and competencies as well as overlapping roles and competencies. However, as the complexity of a system increases the roles and competencies of the systems engineer become more important and critical to project / program success. In this paper, we will review project management and systems engineering competencies to identify common ground as well as discern where and why the roles diverge. The foundation of this premise rests primarily in the NASA Competency Framework. System complexity shall be derived from the requisite experience that is required to manage larger and more comprehensive projects.
MARKETING OF TECHNOLOGY:
DETERMINING THE BUSINESS SOLUTION AND VALUE PROPOSITION - DECEMBER 2013
The business solution and the value proposition are inextricably linked and the problem that a business development team should solve is: determining the business solution and accompanying value proposition. In this paper, we have tied together several business development and value models to determine which business solutions and value propositions to a business development team should pursue.
PIPELINE MANAGEMENT:
A KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT CHALLENGE - MARCH 2014
A look at the application of Dr. Michael Stankosky’s Enterprise Engineering Management approach to address a knowledge management challenge for Epic Logistics. This paper outlines the design, and implementation of a knowledge management system for the organization described in the text.
REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING:
THINK FAST REQUIREMENTS SOLICITATION PLAN - JULY 2014
Think, Inc., is a fictional international business consulting firm, ready to replace their aging sales compensation management application with a new online Sales Compensation Tool: Think Fast. Our fictional firm, Epic Consulting, has been hired to develop Think Fast by the Director of Marketing at Think, Inc. I served as part of the team that developed the context and context boundaries of the system; identify all stakeholders, artifacts, relationships, and any other relevant information needed to fully define the system context of Think Fast.
My contribution to this group effort included the development of deliverable slide deck format and analysis of the "Properties & Relationships of the Context Objectives" matrix.
REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING:
THINK FAST GOAL DEVELOPMENT - AUGUST 2014
Think, Inc., is a fictional international business consulting firm, ready to replace their aging sales compensation management application with a new online Sales Compensation Tool: Think Fast. Our fictional firm, Epic Consulting, has been hired to develop Think Fast by the Director of Marketing at Think, Inc. I served as part of the team that developed the goals, goal template and I * (I-STAR) model needed to fully define the system requirements of Think Fast.
My contribution to this group effort included the development of deliverable slide deck format and the I* Strategic Rationale Model (SRM) using the OME modeling software.
REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING:
THINK FAST USE CASE SCENARIOS - AUGUST 2014
Think, Inc., is a fictional international business consulting firm, ready to replace their aging sales compensation management application with a new online Sales Compensation Tool: Think Fast. Our fictional firm, Epic Consulting, has been hired to develop Think Fast by the Director of Marketing at Think, Inc. I served as part of the team that developed the use case, textual scenarios, sequence and use case diagrams to define the system requirements of Think Fast.
My contribution to this group effort included the development of deliverable slide deck format and creation of the Use Case and Sequence Diagrams using UML in Miscrosoft Visio.
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR:
USE OF JOB ROTATION IN GE's JUNIOR OFFICER LEADERSHIP PROGRAM (JOLP) - AUGUST 2014
Response to an assignment to prepare a paper consisting of an analysis and critique of a specific company’s organizational behavior system. Select a company and one of the course topics orsystems. Describe how the company approaches the topic or system, analyze the strengths, and weaknesses of the company’s system(s) and offer suggestions for improvement where appropriate. I selected General Electric's JOLP program because of GE's apparent commitment to leadership as well as my access to several JOLP participants and / or graduates to provide additional insight.
PROBLEMS IN ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT & SYSTEMS ENGINEERING:
CAPSTONE PAPER - NOVEMBER 2014
The iDeal web and mobile app is a fictional system that allows: buyers to find high quality sporting equipment in their vicinity without hours of online research; sellers the ability to list the same types of equipment with a single click of the camera and all while eliminating the need to exchange large amounts of cash in person.
This capstone paper outlines from market research to product launch, the development of this system using systems thinking and the systems engineering concepts learned throughout the master's program.
My contribution to this group effort included the development of paper outline, executive summary, project planning, earned value management, project control, and product transition.
FINANCIAL ANALYSIS:
TED BAKER FORECASTS & ANALYSIS - DECEMBER 2016
An assessment of Ted Baker, a U.K. based affordable luxury company. This report takes a look at the fashion industry and affordably luxury segment; a strategic look into the firm and its strategic approach as well as Porter's Five Forces and a SWOT assessment of the firm and its current financial state. The report also includes an in-depth review of the firms' financials with a comparison. In the financial review our team explored key financial ratios and assessed the company's 2015 and 2016 financials including a DuPont analysis, review of balance sheets, income statements, statements of cash flow and their common size work-ups. We close out the report with development of a 3-year financial forecast to include identification of key strategic value drivers for Ted Baker and development of the Base, Bear, and Bull Scenarios. From the Base Scenario, the team generated journal entries that corresponded with the key assumptions and developed the forecasts from there.
