A Student Team Project for Effective Use of Internet Technologies by a Manufacturing Company
Louise Soe, Drew Hwang
In this new Information Age, Information Technology (IT) workers are helping companies exploit the new Internet-based technologies in order to stay competitive. Cal Poly Pomona, a Southern California university whose motto is "Learn by doing," provides its students with opportunities to learn how to accomplish such goals through group senior project classes. The case study in this paper is drawn from a project in the Eugineering Interdiscipliuary Clinic, an interdisciplinary, 3-quarter-Iong senior project program. This paper presents the process that a student team followed to prepare an operational plan for effective and innovative use of Internet technologies by a mannfacturing company. During the project, the stndents developed a plan for the expanded use of the Internet, laid out a framework for a corporate intranet, and made recommendations about the use of extranets with suppliers and distributors. They also developed prototypes to illustrate features of the proposed intranet applications. The project was so successful that the company contracted for another yearlong project that built on the work of the first team.
Louise Soe is an associate professor in the Computer Information Systems Department at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She teaches Internet-based applications anddoes research on innovation diffusionas well as the evolution of technology. Professor Soe is coauthor of a textbook, Dreamweaver 4.0, published by Course Technology in June 2001.
Drew Hwang is an associate professor of computer information systems at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He received a Ph.D. in management information systems from the University of Mississippi in 1995 and has ten years of industrial experience as a systems analyst and consultant. Dr. Hwang's research interests include Internet-based information systems, decision support systems, and electronic commerce. He has published research papers in journals such as Decision Support Systems, Omega, Information and Management, and Journal of Management Science.
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