InstructionsSubmit your communication framework and training plan, in which you:Apply your instructor’s critiques of Milestones One, Two, and Three to create a professional plan of action for tackling the technical communications needs in your area of focus. This will serve as a framework and guidelines for creating effective technical communication and will act as the basis for the technical communication training that you will develop for the BOLDFlash management team. It will include a critique of an existing technical communication practice in your area of focus, your methods for adapting the communication practice, and your reasoning for the change.Additionally, in your summary, discuss the adaptation of your plan of action to the two areas of focus that are not addressed in your plan, and what changes you would make in order to reach the target audiences in those other two areas of focus.Your final submission should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final product. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course.For additional details, please refer to the Final Project Guidelines and Rubric document.
it_520_final_project_guidelines_and_rubric.pdf
boldflash__cross_functional_challenges_in_the_mobile_division.pdf
boldflash_internal_business_process_artifact.pdf
boldflash_product_documentation_artifact.pdf
boldflash_technical_service_communication_artifact.pdf
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IT 520 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric
Overview
The final project for this course is the creation of a communication framework and training plan.
As businesses incorporate more and more technology into daily operations, information technology (IT) professionals are tasked with not only solving technology
problems and providing excellent technical services, but communicating effectively to a wide variety of audiences. The purpose of communication is to
perpetuate brilliant ideas, bring change, and solve problems in any discipline, but within the realm of IT, it takes on a particular twist. Your final project for this
course concerns critiquing and adapting existing technical communications to ensure necessary information is successfully delivered to target audiences, while
developing a framework from which IT professionals can approach technical communications to a variety of audiences.
Throughout the final project, you will be utilizing the case study (BOLDFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division) and the artifact documents
(located in the Assignments folder) for all milestones related to the final project.
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 Seven. The final submission will occur in Module Nine.
This assessment will assess your mastery with respect to the following course outcomes:
IT-520-01:
IT-520-02:
IT-520-03:
IT-520-04:
Integrate effective collaboration and communication strategies into technical enterprise solutions and communications plans
Establish conceptual frameworks for planning and specific guidelines for communicating technical information to multiple stakeholders
Evaluate existing technical communications for the extent to which they effectively communicate necessary information to end users
Adapt technical communications to successfully meet the needs of various target audiences
Scenario
When promoted to the new vice president of BOLDFlash’s Mobile Division, specializing in high-tech storage components for electronic devices, Roger Cahill
understood very clearly that his top priority was to get the struggling division back on track. As he started in on the job, he soon realized that problems with
technical communications were a major cause of the division’s other problems. Rapid sales growth, reorganization of the division itself, the vast number of
products, and the fast pace of new product development had all increased the challenges of effective communication between division teams and with
suppliers, partners, and customers.
As the just-hired director of technical communications for the Mobile Division, you must analyze the current state of technical communications within the
company. In your first days on the job, you have learned that there are no formatting requirements or templates for internal product documentation or
customer materials, that individual techs often develop such materials without any structure or guidance, and that the Technical Support team has received
several hundred complaints about the complexity and, at times, inaccuracy of the instructions that accompany products.
What is more, various departments within the division have cited difficulties in understanding the products and services BOLDFlash’s Mobile Division has to offer
because of the extreme technical nature of the various products. As one example, a project was conducted earlier in the year to prepare a response to an RFP
(Request for Proposal) from the U.S. Navy for secure disk drives. Such contract responses require clear communication of technical aspects in a business context,
yet upper management has had difficulty navigating the design specification documents and technical blueprints that the R&D group has prepared.
Cahill has tasked you with developing training on technical communication for the division’s management team and with creating a cohesive plan for developing
technical documents and communications that will benefit the company in the long run.
Prompt
Based on the case study (BOLDFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division), the three artifact documents (internal business processes, product
documentation, or technical service communication), and the above scenario, you must construct a plan of action for tackling the various areas of technical
communications needs. You will also need to pick an area of focus (the internal business processes, product documentation, or technical service communication)
to begin adapting the technical communications that already exist and are not meeting audience needs. To this end, you will produce a critique of an existing
technical communication, including your methods for adapting the communication and your reasoning for the change. This will act as the basis for the technical
communication training that you will develop for BOLDFlash’s Mobile Division management team. The most important piece, perhaps, is the inclusion of a
framework and guidelines for creating effective technical communication.
Specifically the following critical elements must be addressed:
I.
Background and Area of Focus: Analyze the communication environment that exists within BOLDFlash. What are the particular areas of concern, and
which area do you feel should be your focus to start? Specifically, which area (internal business processes, product documentation, or technical service
communication) do you feel is the most important to fix first? Why? Provide your reasoning. [IT-520-01]
II.
Framework for Planning and Communicating With Stakeholders:
a) Key Stakeholders: Discuss your area of focus. Who are the key stakeholders involved in this particular area, why are they involved, and to what
extent will your framework for communication impact them? [IT-520-02]
b) Established Practices: What established communication practices would benefit your approach to communicating among the stakeholders that
you have identified? Provide evidence to support your conclusions. [IT-520-02]
c) Construct a framework for continued communication, both technical and nontechnical, among the identified stakeholders. This framework will
be the one to which the management team will refer for interdepartmental and external communication with customers. [IT-520-02]
III.
Training Plan: How will you approach training the management team and communicating the new guidelines to existing employees?
a) What communication strategies will you incorporate and why? How are these communication strategies appropriate for those individuals to
whom your training is directed? Provide evidence to support your conclusions. [IT-520-01]
b) What collaboration strategies will you incorporate? Determine the collaborative structure and strategies that will help the managers and
directors throughout and after their training experiences. Why are these appropriate? Who will be collaborating? Provide evidence to support
your conclusions. [IT-520-01]
c) Training Method(s) (how you will share your training with trainees and other stakeholders): Your method must be appropriate for the audience
to which you want to communicate. Justify your choice(s) of method with research. [IT-520-01]
IV.
Specified Guidelines From Your Focus Area: Outline the specific guidelines for creating successful technical communications. Identify the key steps—for
example, who are the various audiences that need the information? Remember that your guidelines need to be detailed for your colleagues to follow,
clear for your colleagues to understand, and accurate to ensure that the resulting communications are successful. [IT-520-02]
V.
The Training: Select the methods for communication and collaboration that best fit your area of focus, and implement them in a training. Your training
can be a written deliverable or a video/audio recording. You will select a specific technical communication artifact from the ones provided that is related
to your area of focus to use in the training, and you will apply your guidelines to the audience identification, critique, adaptation, and explanation.
a) Who is the target audience of the communication? From the case study and artifacts provided, what characteristics can you identify about your
target audience, such as their perspectives, backgrounds, and organizational agenda? [IT-520-03]
b) What is the intended message that needs to be delivered? What pertinence does that message hold for the intended audience? In other words,
why does the message matter for the target audience? [IT-520-03]
c) To what extent was the technical communication successful in delivering the intended message? Did the necessary information get through to
the target audience? Why or why not? [IT-520-03]
VI.
Adaptation Example
a) Adapt the technical communication artifact to more successfully meet the needs of the target audience that was identified. Be sure to apply the
guidelines that you established. [IT-520-04]
b) Explain what you did to adapt the communication and the reasoning for your changes. This will serve as the explanation to the management
team so that they understand the greater context of the adaptation. Be sure to explain how the guidelines you have established were applied.
[IT-520-04]
c) Now consider an alternative audience that might receive the technical communication, and analyze their dispositions and needs for
communication. Adapt the communication to this new audience and explain your steps to your team. How successful will this adaptation be in
delivering the intended message to your new audience? [IT-520-04]
Milestones
Milestone One: Area of Focus and Framework
In Module Two, you will submit a written report that analyzes the communication environment that exists within BOLDFlash and discusses the particular areas of
concern. This milestone will be graded using the Milestone One Rubric.
Milestone Two: Training Plan and Area of Focus Guidelines
In Module Four, you will submit a written report in which you discuss how you will approach training the BOLDFlash management team and communicating the
new guidelines to existing employees. This milestone will be graded using the Milestone Two Rubric.
Milestone Three: Training
In Module Seven, you will submit a two-part document. In the first part, you will submit a written report in which you select the methods for communication and
collaboration that best fit your area of focus and implement them as a training tool for the BOLDFlash management team. In the second part, you will submit
either a written report or a training video (or both) in which you exemplify the training by taking an existing communication to your area of focus and adapting
the technical communication artifact to more successfully meet the needs of the target audience that was identified. This milestone will be graded using the
Milestone Three Rubric.
Final Submission: Communication Framework and Training Plan
In Module Nine, you will submit a communication framework and training plan (which includes any optional training videos submitted in Milestone Three). Your
final submission should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final product. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback
gained throughout the course. Your final submission will be graded using the Final Product Rubric.
Deliverables
Milestone
1
Deliverables
Area of Focus and Framework
Module Due
Two
Grading
Graded separately; Milestone One Rubric
2
Training Plan and Area of Focus
Guidelines
Training
Four
Graded separately; Milestone Two Rubric
Seven
Graded separately; Milestone Three Rubric
Nine
Graded separately; Final Product Rubric
3
Final Submission: Communication
Framework and Training Plan
Final Product Rubric
Guidelines for Submission: Written components of the project must follow these formatting guidelines: double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, oneinch margins, and length of 15 to 20 pages.
Critical Elements
Background and Area
of Focus
[IT-520-01]
Exemplary (100%)
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
reasoning is qualified with
relevant and reputable sources
Proficient (90%)
Analyzes the communication
environment within the context
of the scenario to identify and
justify an area of focus with
logical reasoning
Key Stakeholders
[IT-520-02]
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
assessment is exceptionally
detailed, but without
superfluous detail that might
detract from the determination
of impact
Accurately assesses the extent
to which key stakeholders in
the area of focus will be
impacted by the
communication framework
Established Practices
[IT-520-02]
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
reasoning and support are
exceptionally strong in terms of
relevance, validity, and
reputability
Accurately determines
established communication
strategies with reasoning and
support as to why they are
appropriate for those
stakeholders identified in
section II.a
Framework for
Communication
[IT-520-02]
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
framework is particularly well
crafted and possibly serviceable
Constructs a framework for
continued communication for
the area of focus that covers
both technical and
nontechnical communication
strategies and that will logically
perpetuate successful
communication between the
technology team and
stakeholders
Needs Improvement (70%)
Analyzes the communication
environment to identify and
justify an area of focus, but
analysis lacks detail or the area
of focus is not justified with
logical reasoning
Assesses the extent to which
certain stakeholders will be
impacted by the
communication framework, but
assessment is not accurate, or
the stakeholders identified are
not the key stakeholders
Determines established
communication strategies with
reasoning and support as to
why they may be helpful, but
not as to why they are
appropriate for those
stakeholders identified in
section II.a
Constructs a framework for
continued communication for
the area of focus that covers
both technical and
nontechnical communication
strategies, but the framework
will not logically perpetuate
successful communication
between the technology team
and stakeholders, or the
framework does not cover both
technical and nontechnical
communication
Not Evident (0%)
Does not analyze the
communication environment
scenario to identify and justify
an area of focus
Value
5.75
Does not assess the extent to
which certain stakeholders will
be impacted by the
communication framework
5.75
Does not determine
established communication
strategies with reasoning and
support as to why they may be
helpful
5.75
Does not construct a
framework for continued
communication for the area of
focus
5.75
Training Plan:
Communication
[IT-520-01]
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
determinations are particularly
well supported with reputable
and reliable sources
Training Plan:
Collaboration
[IT-520-01]
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
determinations are particularly
well supported with reputable
and reliable sources
Training Plan: Training
Method(s)
[IT-520-01]
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
training method is exceptionally
well catered to the audiences
and has the potential for
success because of the
method(s) used, or the
justification is exceptionally
well supported with scholarly
research and examples of
proven success
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
is replicable, realistic, and
valuable for use in the
professional world
Specified Guidelines
[IT-520-02]
The Training: Target
Audience
[IT-520-03]
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
particular details articulated are
highly relevant for the basis of
altering the existing
communication
Determines relevant and
proven communication
strategies for use in training the
management team, supported
with valid research
Determines collaborative
structure and strategies that
will logically facilitate successful
training and communication
experiences for the
management team
Selects an appropriate training
method(s) and justifies with
relevant research
Outlines detailed, clear, and
accurate guidelines for creating
successful technical
communications within the
focus area
Accurately analyzes the target
audience of the selected
communication with detail
regarding perspectives,
technical needs, and
backgrounds of that audience
Determines communication
strategies for use in training the
management team, but they
are not all relevant or not
proven with valid research
Determines collaborative
structure and strategies for
training and communication
experiences for the
management team, but not all
of the strategies are likely to
facilitate success, or the
structure will not be beneficial
given the context of the
training
Selects a training method(s)
and justifies with research;
however, training method is not
appropriate for the intended
audiences or justification is not
based in relevant research
Does not determine
communication strategies for
use in training the
management team
5.75
Does not determine
collaborative structure and
strategies for training, and/or
communication experiences
5.75
Does not select and justify a
training method
5.75
Outlines guidelines for creating
technical communications
within the focus area, but
guidelines are not detailed,
clear, and/or accurate
Analyzes the target audience of
the selected communication,
but lacks detail regarding
perspectives, technical needs,
or backgrounds of that
audience, or there are gaps in
accuracy
Does not outline guidelines for
technical communications
within the focus area
5.75
Does not analyze the target
audience of the selected
communication
7.67
The Training: Message
[IT-520-03]
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
determination of importance is
specified as to what the key
necessary information is
The Training: Critique
[IT-520-03]
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
the reasoning provided is
contextualized with examples
and metaphors for improved
clarity
Adaptation Examples:
New Communication
Artifact
[IT-520-04]
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
adaptation is exceptionally well
catered to the audience
Adaptation Examples:
Explanation
[IT-520-04]
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
articulation is serviceable as a
real-life training exercise for
technical writing
Adaptation Examples:
Alternative
Adaptation
[IT-520-04]
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
replication serves as a clear
example for training purposes
or how the guidelines can be
used in different contexts
Articulation of
Response
Submission is free of errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, and
organization and is presented in
a professional and easy-to-read
format
Accurately determines the
importance of the intended
message for the target
audience and is complete with
detail
Accurately assesses the extent
to which existing
communication was successful
in delivering the intended
message, with detailed
explanation as to the reasoning
Successfully adapts the
communication artifact to meet
the needs of the intended
audience, and guidelines are
clearly applied to the
adaptation
Accurately and clearly
articulates the process behind
the adaptation and how the
guidelines were applied for
training purposes
Replicates the adaptation
exercise successfully by
considering an alternative
audience and applying the
guidelines to create a
communication that
successfully communicates the
message
Submission has no major errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization
Determines the importance of
the intended message for the
target audience, but lacks detail
that may impact accuracy of
determination
Assesses the extent to which
existing communication was
successful in delivering the
intended message with
explanation as to the
reasoning, but assessment is
not accurate or explanation
lacks necessary detail
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